With just two wickets remaining, Orissa was ahead of its rivals by just 42 runs with a day's play remaining.

Wicket keeper Haladhar Das, whose batting had boosted Orissa this season, was on 47 with tailender Sourav Sehgal keeping batting on 1.

For Himachal, Paceman Vikramjit Malik, left arm spinner Vishal Bhatia and skipper Sandeep Sharma captured two wickets each.

After conceding a 160 run first innings lead, Orissa began their second innings well with Shiv Sundar Das (31) and Bikash Pati (13) putting on 38 runs. But five wickets tumbled in the post-lunch session for a paltry 96 runs with Bhatia and Malik making inroads. Bhatia bowled skipper Pravanjan Mullick for 30.

The sixth wicket pair of vice-captain Subit Biswal (20) fell immediately after the tea recess when he was trapped lbw by Malik.

Earlier Orissa bowlers toiled through the entire pre- lunch session as the Himachal tail continued to wag.

The ninth wicket pair of Sarandeep Singh (50) and Ashok Thakur (70) added 114 runs as the bowlers could do little to stop them.

Thakur and Singh also joined three other Himachal batsmen to strike half centuries hitting nine and seven fours respectively. Himachal were bowled out for 477 with off- spinner Sanjay Satpathy capturing three wickets conceding 129 runs.