Test discard Debasish Mohanty's fine spell of five for 24 enabled Orissa skittle out Maharashtra for a paltry 77 on the opening day of their four-day Ranji Trophy Plate division cricket match at the Barabati stadium in Cuttack on Monday.

Captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar's decision to bat first backfired as Mohanty's incisive bowling, on a wicket with a tinge of grass, broke the back of the Maharashtra batting.

At stumps, Orissa were comfortably placed at 160 for four.

The visitors, who were reeling at 22 for five at one stage, were all out for 77 with only Sagar Shah (27, six fours) offering some resistance.

Sanjay Satpathy picked up three wickets without conceding any run.

Orissa, who also lost four quick wickets, then rode on a fine unbeaten innings of 81 by Rashmi Ranjan Parida and his 111-run partnership for the fifth wicket with Niranjan Behera (batting 32) to be well placed at 160 for four at close.

Parida's sensible innings was spread over 257 minutes, during which he faced 171 balls and hit 13 fours.

All rounder Behera, who hit three fours, played the perfect foil to Parida by protecting his end.

Former Test medium pacer Iqbal Siddiqui (2/45) and Ranjit Khirid (2/27) shared the Orissa wickets to fall.

Scoreboard

Maharashtra (1st innings):
Dhiraj Jadhav c S Singh b B Singh 2
Niranjan Godbole lbw D Mohanty 0
Hrishikesh Kanitkar lbw D Mohanty 13
Kaushik Aphale lbw D Mohanty 1
Sagar Shah b D Mohanty 27
Ranjit Khirid c D Mohanty b B Singh 1
Kashinath Khadkikar st S Singh b S Satpathy 13
Satyajit Satbhai lbw S Satpathy 0
Iqbal Siddiqui c D Mohanty b S Satpathy 1
Charu Kulkarni lbw D Mohanty 0
Kiran Adhav not out 5

Extras: (b-4, lb-3, nb-5, w-2) 14

Total: (all out in 35.1 overs) 77

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-9, 3-12, 4-21, 5-22, 6-69, 7-70, 8-70, 9-70

Bowling: Debashis Mohanty 13-3-24-5, Bipin Singh 12-4-32-2, Pravanjan Mullick 5-0-12-0, BBCC Mohapatra 2-0-2-0, Sanjay Satpathy 3.1-3-0-3.

Orissa (1st innings):
BBCC Mohapatra c C Kulkarni b R Khirid 0
Subrat Behera lbw I Siddiqui 2
Rashmi Ranjan Parida batting 81
Sanjay Raul lbw I Siddiqui 1
Pravanjan Mullick lbw R Khirid 20
Niranjan Behera batting 32

Extras: (b-4, lb-5, nb-15) 24

Total: (for four wickets in 52 overs) 160

Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-6, 3-16, 4-49

Bowling: Iqbal Siddiqui 10-0-45-2, Ranjit Khirid 12-2-27-2, Charu Kulkarni 8-1-29-0, Kiran Adhav 11-3-22-0, Kashinath Khadkikar 7-2-12-0, Hrishikesh Kanitkar 4-1-16-0.