Fine half-centuries by openers B B C C Mohapatra and Subrat Behera enabled hosts Orissa to take a firm grip on their Ranji Trophy plate division match against Goa at close on the second day of the four-day tie at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on Monday.

The hosts were 202 for two at stumps after having bundled out the visitors for 235 in the morning with former Indian Test medium-pacer Debashis Mohanty doing most of the damage, claiming five wickets for 44 runs.

This was Mohanty's eleventh five-wicket haul in the Ranji Trophy.

Resuming at the overnight 208 for six, Goa were dismissed for 235 within the first 10 overs of the morning with opener Swapnil Asnodkar carrying his bat for a splendid 126 not out. His knock contained 21 hits to the fence.

The other Orissa medium-pacer, Bipin Singh, captured three wickets conceding 84 runs.

Orissa replied strongly with Mohapatra hitting out against the Goan bowlers. His 83 came off 136 balls and contained ten fours and two sixes as the opening partnership raised 122 runs. He was bowled by medium-pacer Shadeb Jakati who claimed both the Orissa wickets to fall on the day conceding 39 runs.

Behera, who was batting on 60 at the close, has hit six boundaries so far.

Jakati uprooted the stumps of Rashmi Ranjan Parida with the batsman on 15 (3x4). Skipper Sanjay Raul was keeping Behera company on 26 (3x4) when play ended.

Scoreboard:
Goa (1st innings):
Sagun Kamat run out                                     0
Swapnil Asnodkar not out                           126
Fazal Shaikh lbw S Jena                              30
Rohit Rane C S Singh b B Singh                     1
Mandar Phadke lbw b B Singh                        5
Rajesh Naik b D Mohanty                               6
Shadeb Jakati c R R Parida b D Mohanty        2
Amit Dani c S Singh b B Singh                     22
Somshekhar Shiriguppi c S Jena b Mohanty  12
D C Rajesh c S Singh b D Mohanty                7
Avinash Aware lbw D Mohanty                       0
Extras: (b-11, lb-12, nb-1)                           24
Total: (all out in 99.3 overs)                       235
Fall of wickets: 1/2, 2/119, 3/128, 4/140, 5/170, 6/172, 7/208, 8/227, 9/235
Bowling: Debashis Mohanty 24.3-13-44-5, Bipin Singh 27-8-84-3, Pravanjan Mullick 8-5-11-0, Srikanta Jena 23-10-35-1, Sanjay Satpathy 12-1-36-0, Sanjay Raul 4-3-1-0, Niranjan Behera 1-0-1-0

Orissa (1st innings):
B B C C Mohapatra b S Jakati       83
Subrat Behera batting                   60
Rashmi Ranjan Parida b S Jakati   15
Sanjay Raul batting                      26
Extras: (b 4, lb 9, nb 4, w 1)         18
Total: (for 2 wickets in 78 overs)  202
Fall of wickets: 1/122, 2/150
Bowling: Avinash Aware 12-3-48-0, D C Rajesh 7-1-16-0, Amit Dani 11-3-33-0, Shadeb Jakati 24-9-39-2, Faizal Shaikh 23-3-51-0, Rohit Rane 1-0-2-0