Superior Orissa have Jammu & Kashmir at their mercy

Orissa decided not to go in for the kill after dismissing Jammu & Kashmir for 151 in their first innings and taking an unassailable lead of 350 runs in the Ranji Trophy pre-quarter-final at the Barabati Stadium on Tuesday.

Orissa, despite taking the massive lead opted for batting practice. As is the custom in Ranji Trophy these days, batting a second time is taken as a virtue than going in for an outright victory.

Earlier, when J&K resumed on 102/4, Kavaljit Singh got to his half century. He made 57 runs before being caught by Sanjay Raul off Sanjay Satpathy. Ashwani Gupta made 28 and the remaining batsmen could not even get to double figures as J&K were shot out for 151. Sanjay Satpathy was easily the best of the bowlers, picking up 4/39.

Orissa, having made sure of a berth in the quarter-finals, made the match a 'farce' by batting again. By close of play on the third day, Orissa had moved to 228/4 for an overall lead of 578 runs. Sanjay Raul is unbeaten on 90 and Debashish Mohanty on two. Suresh Kumar (55) and Jai Chandra (41) were also amongst the runs. Jagtar Singh has so far been the most successful bowler with figures of 20-2-44-3.