da pinnacle： Tamil Nadu, going from strength to strength, have taken a strangleholdover Orissa in their Ranji Trophy Super League group C match at theBarabati stadium in Cuttak
05-Mar-2000Tamil Nadu, going from strength to strength, have taken a strangleholdover Orissa in their Ranji Trophy Super League group C match at theBarabati stadium in Cuttak. At stumps on Sunday, the visitors held anoverall lead of 187 runs with nine second innings wickets intact.Tamil Nadu who are leading the table in the group so far, have beenthe dominant team in this encounter. They finished on top on the firstday thanks in the main to a record last wicket partnership of 137 runsbetween the last two batsmen Gokulakrishna and Rajat Bhatia. On thesecond day the bowlers helped them to consolidate. Orissa lost sixwickets for 89 before wicketkeeper Y Mohanty (59 not out) and SSatpathy (35) added 63 runs for the seventh wicket off 13.2 overs. Alast wicket stand of 34 runs off eight overs between Mohanty and BipinSingh (6) stretched the Orissa total to 195. Mohanty faced 79 ballsand hit ten fours. The bowling honours were shared by opening bowler SMahesh (3 for 63) and off spinner Aashish Kapoor (3 for 45). Mediumpacer Gokulakrishna followed his timely knock with two for 42.In the remaining time, Tamil Nadu strengthened their position byhitting 55 for one in 21.4 overs in their second innings. Bhatiapromoted to open the batting after his heroics in the first inningswas unbeaten with 23 while left hander S Sriram was out in the lastover of the day for 31.