Odisha’s hopes of bouncing back on home turf suffered a huge setback as Services seized control on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group C clash at KIIT Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Monday.Choosing to bowl first, Services rode on a superb spell from off-spinner Pulkit Narang, whose 6 for 47 helped dismiss Odisha for just 194. At stumps, the visitors had reached 13 without loss and trailed Odisha by 181 runs with all 10 wickets in hand.Earlier, Odisha started brightly after being put in to bat first. Openers Swastik Samal and Gourav Choudhary added 79 runs for the first wicket and looked set to provide a solid platform. However, Narang broke the stand by bowling Samal for 39 in the 24th over, a breakthrough that changed the course of the innings.Choudhary, who top-scored with 41, also fell to Narang four overs later as Odisha slipped from a comfortable position into trouble. The hosts then lost wickets at regular intervals, failing to capitalise on starts. Sandeep Pattnaik (10) and captain Subhranshu Senapati (14) departed in successive overs, leaving Odisha struggling at 104 for 4.Returning to the side, Anil Parida tried to steady the innings with a patient 36 off 100 balls at No. 6, but lacked substantial support from the middle and lower order. Rajesh Mohanty remained unbeaten on 19 and attempted to push Odisha towards the 200-run mark, but the innings ended six runs short.While Narang was the chief destroyer, Services also received useful contributions from medium pacer Virender Dagar (2/38) and part-time spinner Nitin Tanwar (2/9), who shared the remaining four wickets.With Odisha once again failing to build on a promising start, Services enter the second day in a commanding position and will look to turn their advantage into a sizeable first-innings lead.
