da aposte e ganhe： The first triple century of the 2000-2001 Ranji Trophy was scored by23 year old Punjab southpaw Dinesh Mongia at Burlton Park in Jalandharon Tuesday
Sankhya Krishnan07-Nov-2000The first triple century of the 2000-2001 Ranji Trophy was scored by23 year old Punjab southpaw Dinesh Mongia at Burlton Park in Jalandharon Tuesday. Mongia caned a hapless Jammu & Kashmir attack, finishingwith an unbeaten 308 as Punjab declared at 587/5. Their opponents whotrailed by a humongous 419 on first innings were en route to aninnings defeat at stumps, closing at 118/3 in their second essay.Resuming at 366/3, Mongia and Pankaj Dharmani extended their fourthwicket association to 388 before the latter presented perseveringseamer Surendra Singh with his fourth wicket. Dharmani’s 176 came off253 balls and was studded with 13 fours and 3 sixes. Last season thisIndian ODI discard had hoisted a triple ton against the sameopponents. This time it was Mongia’s turn.Although Mongia lost wicket keeper Harminder Jugnu cheaply, wristspinning allrounder Sandeep Sawal proved to be a more reliablepartner. The duo raised an undefeated 133 run stand for the sixthwicket. Mongia completed his 300 in just over eight hours at thecrease and when he finally trudged off the field, he had 15 fours and5 sixes to his credit in his 409 ball knock. Sawal for his part hadstruck a breezy half century off only 56 deliveries. The only J&Kbowler who escaped the mauling was Surendra Singh who retained therespectable figures of 4/97 in 27 overs.Off spinner Harbhajan Singh, currently out of favour with the nationalselectors, ran rings around the J&K top order in their reply. Hedespatched both openers Vidya Bhaskar and Ranjit Bali and added thescalp of one-drop Kanwaljit Singh, top scorer in the first innings,for good measure to leave J&K at 73/3. Ashwani Gupta (33) and DhruvMahajan (24) perked up the innings with an unbeaten 45 run stand,which left the visitors needing a further 301 to avoid an inningsdefeat.