Bhubaneswar: Odisha cricket team on Thursday decided to bat first after winning the toss in their first match of the Ranji Trophy 2018-19 against Haryana. The match is being played at KIIT University Stadium here.
Till the filing of this report, Odisha has scored 82 runs in 26 overs with the loss of one wicket. Opener Anurag Sarangi has scored his half-century and is still playing.
Odisha left-arm spinner Papu Ray who earned a maiden Ranji Trophy call-up for the first two matches has been included in the playing eleven.
Ray was picked up in the team following his impressive performance in the just-concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy. He had taken 14 wickets in eight games at a strike rate of 18.42 in the league stage of the Vijay Hazare Trophy and came under the spotlight of national selectors, who picked him for the Ajinkya Rahane-led India C squad in the upcoming Deodhar Trophy.
Biplab Samantray will lead the 15-member Odisha squad – Anurag Sarangi, Ranjit Singh, Sandeep Pattnaik, Govinda Poddar, Subhranshu Sekhar Senapati, Shantanu Lenka (WK), Papu Ray, Rajesh Mohanty, Debabrata Pradhan, Basanta Mohanty, Suryakant Pradhan, Abhishek Rout and Subham Nayak.
On the other hand, Haryana has some of the experienced players like Mohit Sharma, Jayant Yadav and Harshal Patel.
After its match against Haryana which would conclude on November 4, Odisha will then face Uttar Pradesh (November 12-15) at the same venue.
Ranji Trophy, India’s premier domestic competition enters its 85’th year. This year a total of 37 teams, nine new teams, are participating in it.
As many as 17 matches are being played at different venues across the country today.
Meanwhile, India’s international stars like R Ashwin, Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ishant Sharma and others will also be in action in the three-month-long tournament.
Ms Kalinga