Punjab poised for victory
Mohali: Punjab were well placed to score a victory over Himachal Pradesh at stumps on the third day of their North Zone Ranji Trophy match here on Tuesday
Rajesh Arora
27-Oct-1999
Mohali: Punjab were well placed to score a victory over Himachal
Pradesh at stumps on the third day of their North Zone Ranji Trophy
match here on Tuesday.
Punjab declared their second innings at lunch at 176 for six, setting
HP a target of 402 for victory in 143 overs. At close of play, HP were
reeling at 127 for five.
Punjab resumed their second innings at the score of 38 for 2. Dinesh
Mongia slammed a well compiled century and added 133 runs for the
third wicket with his overnight partner Amit Sharma (33).
Mongia smashed three consective boundaries to square leg off Shakti
Singh who got six wickets in the first innings. Jaswant Rai who
replaced Shakti Singh was also punished by Mongia as he hit 22 runs
from his first two overs which included two big sixes and one hit to
the fence. Mongia completed his fifth century in the Ranji Trophy
while playing in his 43rd innings of his 28th match off just 109 balls
with 10 hits to fence and two mighty sixes. Amit Sharma (33) also made
a valuable contribution.
In the HP second innings, skipper Rajiv Nayyar (38) was at the crease
after playing patiently for 219 minutes and facing 149 balls. Nischal
Gaur (37) added 46 runs for second wicket with Nayyar. He was unlucky
to be given leg before to Sodhi when he appeared to have played the
ball.
Sangram Singh (21) also stayed for 71 minutes at the wicket and added
47 runs for third wicket. He was taken at gully by Mongia off Navdeep
Singh to be the third batsman out at 95. Yashwinder Singh (0) also
departed at the same total due to a brillant catch in the slips by
Amit Sharma off Navdeep Singh in the same over.
For Punjab, Navdeep Singh got two wickets for 22 runs while Sandeep
Sharma, Sodhi and Sarandeep shared a wicket each.
HP still face the uphill task of getting 275 runs in the remaining 90
overs on Wednesday with only five wickets in hand.