Kalaria pushes hosts to the wall

Cuttack:Odisha’s first home match of the Ranji season started on a disastrous note Sunday with their brittle batting line-up putting a Manmohan Desai script to shame with another disappointing performance with the willow. They ended the first day of the tie against Gujarat on 219 for eight.
Calling correctly at the toss, Gujarat skipper Parthiv Patel had no hesitation in bowling first on a wicket which offered considerable pace, bounce and movement early on.Odisha’s dreams of a big first-innings score was quickly snuffed out here at DRIEMS cricket ground as left-arm pacer Rush Kalaria removed opener Anurag Sarangi and Niranjan Behera off the fourth and fifth balls of the very first over of the match. But the hat-trick eluded the 21-year-old.
Tottering at 0/2 in the first over, opener Nataraj Behera and Govind Poddar, who made the cut in place of the out-of-form Girija Rout, set about restoring calm. Playing the role of mainstay to perfection, Behera was well and truly a cut above the rest. With poise, alacrity and assured footwork, the former Odisha skipper not only negated the threat posed by the Gujarat seamers but also scored at a brisk pace.
Having added 86 runs for the third wicket, the duo looked at ease against the trio of Kalaria, Kushang Patel and Ishwar Chaudhary, before the left-arm pacer returned for his second spell to account for Poddar. Behera then found an able ally in all-rounder Biplab Samantray. They added 58 runs for the fourth wicket and seemed to have calmed the nerves in the dressing room. But it did not last long as Behera, looking to steal a quick single, found himself short of the crease against a direct hit by Kushang from mid-on.
Four runs later, Samantray followed him as he poked a Kalaria outswinger to give Parthiv Patel his second catch of the day. With the hosts on the back foot, left-arm spinner Akshar Patel compounded got into the act. He dismissed hosts’ skipper Abhilash Mallick after a painful innings which lasted 37 balls and yielded a single run. Gujarat were so dominant in that period that only eight runs were scored in the nine overs separating Samantray and Mallick’s departure.
With wicket-keeper Haladhar Das, debutant Tukuna Sahoo and Deepak Behera chipping in, Odisha managed crawl past the 200 run-mark in the 85th over of the day.
The star of the day was obviously Gujarat’s young pacer Kalaria, who picked up his second five-wicket haul with accurate line and length, aided by some movement off the pitch. He may not have the pace to trouble class batsmen on docile pitches regularly but he does have a big heart.