Gujarat pace spearhead Rush Kalaria bagged five wickets to put Odisha on the backfoot on the opening day of the Group B Ranji Trophy cricket match, here today.
Electing to field at DRIEMS Ground, Tangi in the four-day encounter, Kalaria got to business right away to pick opener Anurag Sarangi for nought and kept hurting the Odisha batting line-up regularly as the hosts ended Sunday on 219 for eight.
Opener Natraj Behera (75) remained the top-scorer of the day, only to be run out post a quick reaction from Kushang Patel.
The middle-order batsmen got starts but failed to capitalise as Kalaria and poor shot-selection accounted for their departure.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Halhadar Das (34 not out) and Suryakant Pradhan (8 not out) are battling on.
Medium-pacer Kushang and left-arm spinner Axar Patel also picked up a wicket each.
Brief Scores:
Odisha 219/8 in 90 overs (Natraj Behera 75, Govinda Podder 37; Rush Kalaria 5-54).
