Orissa overwhelm Bihar

Putting up a fine all round display, Orissa overwhelmed Bihar by 193 runs in the East Zone Ranji Trophy one day encounter at the Eden Gardens in Calcutta on Thursday.

Orissa's batsmen were in fine form helping their team to post an imposing total of 353 for four in 50 overs. Openers BBCC Mahapatra (77) and P Das (93) gave them a splendid start putting on 129 runs in only 19 overs. Mahapatra was the first to go. He faced only 54 balls and hit 12 fours and a six. Das and skipper RR Parida kept up the momentum by adding 88 runs for the second wicket off 13.3 overs. Das was run out at this stage. He faced just 101 balls and hit 12 fours. Parida and P Mullick then carried on the good work by figuring in a 69-run fourth wicket association off only eight overs. Parida was then out for 58 off 59 balls, inclusive of four boundary hits. Towards the end, Mullick just went for the bowling and at the end was unbeaten with 70 off only 49 balls. He hit seven fours and two sixes. With wicketkeeper G Gopal (20), he slapped on 55 runs for the unbroken fifth wicket off 5.3 overs.

Confronted with a herculean target, Bihar never really had a chance and went down without much of a fight. About the only defiance was provided by opener MS Dhoni who got 43 and Anshuman Raj who scored 51 at No 8. The latter faced just 34 balls and hit five fours and three sixes. S Satpathy was in fine form finishing with five wickets for 36 as Bihar were all out for 160 in 34 overs.