Behera's ton gives Orissa the upper hand against Andhra

An unbeaten 102 by vice-captain Niranjan Behera put Orissa in a commanding position at 248 for 3 on the second day of their four-day Ranji Trophy Super League Group B match against the hosts in Hyderabad on Sunday.

Behera's brilliant innings included 14 fours. Captain Shiv Sundar Das (38), RR Parida (44), BS Pati (24) and P Jayachandra (29 not out) were other useful contributors for the visitors.

Jayachandra, who hit one four and two sixes, was giving company to Behera when the stumps were drawn.

Earlier, resuming at overnight score of 201, Hyderabad were all out for 240 in their first innings.

Tail-enders Pragyan Ojha (33) and Ashwin Yadav (28 not out) struggled to increase the total but Orissa's Debasis Mohanty, who claimed four wickets on Saturday, struck again bowling out Ojha.

Openers DB Ravi Teja and Daniel Manohar were the only batsmen who made a decent score for the hosts with 81 and 41 respectively.

Besides Mohanty, SV Sehgal was the other bowler who did a brilliant job for the visitors by claiming four wickets.

Hyderabad 1st innings (overnight 201/8):
D Manohar          c Behera  b Sehgal      41
D Ravi Teja        c H Das   b D Mohanty  81
S Pai              c Behera  b Jayachandra 06
AS Yadav            c SS Das  b Sehgal      07
A Shinde            c Parida  b DS Mohanty  02
B Yadav           lbw b D Mohanty        02
M Arjun            c SS Das  b D Mohanty  19
H Ahmed             c D Mohanty b Sehgal   00
P Ojha             c Sehgal  b D Mohanty  33
A Yadav        not out                 28
A Lalith Mohan      lbw b Sehgal            09
Extras:              (b 1, lb 7, w 1, nb 3)  12
Total:               (all out; 96 overs)    240

Fall of wickets: 1-97, 2-114, 3-137, 4-140, 5-142, 6-143, 7-144, 8-164, 9-218, 10-240

Bowling: D Mohanty 32-9-63-5, P Das 16-5-42-0, P Jayachandra 9-1-39-1, R Mohanty 6-1-18-0, N Behera 3-2-9-0, S Sehgal 30-6-61-4

Orissa (1st innings):
B Pati           c Ahmed  b Ashwin Yadav   24
SS Das            c Ravi Teja b Ojha        38
N Behera          batting                  102
RR Parida         c Shinde b Ojha           44
P Jayachandra     batting                   29
Extras:            (b 4, lb 2, nb 5)         11
Total:             (3 wickets; 77 overs)    248

Fall of wickets: 1-29, 2-99, 3-189

Bowling: M Arjun 14-2-52-0, A Yadav 10-1-50-1, A Lalith Mohan 9-0-33-0, D Manohar 1-0-4-0, P Ojha 23-10-46-2, A Shinde 14-1-30-0, B Yadav 3-0-11-0