For the second successive Ranji Trophy match, Ankit Rajpoot emerged as Uttar Pradesh's leading bowler when he ended the Elite Group C encounter against Odisha at the KIIT Stadium in Bhubaneswar with seven wickets, contributed to his side's victory on Thursday and reached a milestone in First Class cricket.
After grabbing a fifer and seven wickets in Uttar Pradesh's opening Ranji Trophy match of the season, Rajpoot carried on from where he had left off. With the home side put into bat, Rajpoot struck in just the third ball of the match and then dismissed the other opener in the fifth over to reduce Odisha to 10 for 2. The hosts were on the backfoot right away as a result.
Rajpoot returned to dismiss Subhranshu Senapati, the opposition's leading batsman, to end a 67-run partnership that had started to threaten to overturn the momentum. Odisha were eventually all out for 256 with the Kings XI Punjab fast bowler, who has been retained for next year's Indian Premier League, ending with figures of 3/61.
Uttar Pradesh managed to pile on 437, led by captain Akshdeep Nath's 159, to register a 181-run lead.
When Odisha came out to bat again, they succumbed to Rajpoot's pace as he struck first in the ninth over. He came back to trap skipper Biplab Samantray in front, then sent back wicketkeeper Sujit Lenka and wrapped up the innings by snapping Basant Mohanty as Odisha folded for 221 for a 40-run lead. The 24-year-old picked up 4/64 in the second innings and a match haul of 7/125 as Uttar Pradesh cruised to a comfortable ten-wicket win, their second straight success in the championship.
Mohanty was Rajpoot's 150th wicket in First Class cricket, scalped in his 45th match.
