da betway： Gurgaon: A responsible innings of 53 by Pankaj Dharmani andfine bowling by the spinners enabled Punjab to register an impressivevictory over Haryana by 71 runs in their last one day league encounterof the North Zone Ranji Trophy at the Nehru
Rakesh Sanghi20-Nov-1999Gurgaon: A responsible innings of 53 by Pankaj Dharmani andfine bowling by the spinners enabled Punjab to register an impressivevictory over Haryana by 71 runs in their last one day league encounterof the North Zone Ranji Trophy at the Nehru Stadium here yesterday.In reply to Punjab’s total of 220 for 7 in fifty oversHaryana was bundled out for 149, their lowest total against Punjab, in41.1 overs.Punjab skipper Vikram Rathore elected to bat first after winningthe toss. Punjab made three changes in the team thatplayed agaist Delhi. Sarandeep Singh, Rakesh Saini and Sanjay Mahajanwere included in place of Ritender Sodhi, Harbhajan Singh,and Amit Sharma. Haryana left out Amarjeet Kaypee and Sanjay Balwan andbrought in debutant Satish Ohlan and Jasvir Singh. Punjab’s decision tobat first immediately backfired as Haryana got an early breakthrough.In the second over of the innings bowled by Feroz Ghyas, SandeepSharma edged a ball pitched outside the off stump and was declared caughtbehind. After the addition of six runs to the total, Vineet Jain struck toget the vital wicket of Rathore. An incoming ball took theinside edge of his bat and Ajay Ratra picked up the catch behind thestumps. Rathore could make only one run.Pankaj Dharmani and Yuvraj Singh batted with a sense of responsibilityto raise Punjab’s hopes for a tall score. They added 99 runs for thethird wicket before Yuvraj was run out for 42. His knock includedthree boundaries. He batted 109 minutes and faced 81balls. Dharmani, who was the next to be dismissed, scored 53 runs (107minutes,83 Balls,6x4s). He was brilliantly caught by Sonu Sharma atsquare leg after mistiming a shot off Sanjay Dalal. Another partnershipof 60 runs for the sixth wicket between Rakesh Saini (34) and HarminderJugnu (32) helped Punjab raise a respectable total.For Haryana, medium pacer Vineet Jain took two wickets for 48runs. However, their spinners kept the flow of runs under check. Boththe medium pacers Vineet jain and Feroz Ghyas gave away 123 runs intheir allotted quota of overs whereas the three spinners Pankaj Thakur,Sonu Sharma and Sanjay Dalal allowed the batsmen to add 89 runs in theremaining 30 overs.Chasing a victory target of 221 at an asking rate of 4.42, Haryanawere never in the hunt. Opener Jasvir Singh was the topscorer. He made 42 runs from 65 balls with 7 hits to the fence.The other Haryana batsmen played in an irresponsible fashion.Wickets at regular intervals as Punjab spinners Navdeep Singh (3 for22), Yuvraj Singh (3 for 25) and Sarandeep Singh (2 for 19) ran throughthe line up.