da fezbet： A century knock from the dependable Pankaj Dharmani (106) enabledPunjab to score 300 runs for the loss of nine wickets against Servicesduring their North Zone Ranji match being played at Gandhi Ground,Amritsar, today
Staff Reporter08-Nov-2001A century knock from the dependable Pankaj Dharmani (106) enabledPunjab to score 300 runs for the loss of nine wickets against Servicesduring their North Zone Ranji match being played at Gandhi Ground,Amritsar, today.Services won a good toss on a grassy wicket and wisely put theiropponents in to bat. Seamers Sudhakar Ghag and Syed Javed proved thedecision right as they sent three top order batsman back to thepavilion with the scoreboard reading just 32. Ravneet Ricky (0) wasthe first to depart, in the very first over of the day, dismissed byGhag. Vikram Rathour (1)threw away his wicket in the fourth over as hechased a delivery off Javed to give a simple catch to Yashpal Singh atpoint. Manish Sharma irresponsibly steered an outgoing delivery offGhag to gully fielder PM Reddy, who did not make any mistake.Seasoned campaigner Dharmani then joined southpaw Yuvraj Singh, whowas looking in good nick from the very first ball that he faced. Theduo lived up to their reputation to get their team out of the woods.Dharmani was in tremendous touch and seemed to be unshakeable eventhough the ball was seaming a lot because of the early moisture in thewicket. The seam trio of Ghag, Javed and Pandey bowled an accurateline and length, but the pair took their team score to 97 for three atthe stroke of lunch. Dharmani completed his half century with aclassic off-drive to the boundary off Pandey.The second session of the day was dominated by Punjab as they scored99 runs and lost only the wicket of Yuvraj Singh, who lost his cooljust 54 minutes before tea. Yuvraj Singh (67) became the third victimof Ghag as he drove at an outgoing delivery, playing away from thebody, giving a regulation catch for wicket-keeper Sarabjit Singh.Yuvraj’s knock of 67 runs came in 121 balls, with nine hits to fenceand a mighty six during his stay of 156 minutes at the crease. Thepair added 127 valuable runs for the fourth wicket partnership. DineshMongia (11) came in at the fall of Yuvraj’s wicket and stayed for 54minutes at the crease but made the same mistake as Yuvraj just twominutes after tea. Javed brought about the dismissal, with thescoreboard reading 196 for five. Reetinder Singh Sodhi then stepped tojoin Dharmani, who was holding the fort from one end.Dharmani played elegant stokes to all parts of the ground, completinghis century in style as he cut a short ball from Pandey to the pointboundary. He was finally sent back to the pavilion by a classy incutter from Pandey, which took a thick edge for the keeper to hold.Dharmani’s knock was studded with 18 sweetly timed boundaries.Sandeep Sanwal played a quick cameo of 17 runs off 16 balls, but thenbecame the fourth scalp of Ghag. Sodhi, in the company of tail-enderGagandeep Singh, put on 41 valuable runs. He missed his half-centuryby two runs, caught and bowled by Ghag while trying to pull a shortball and mistiming it; his knock came off 74 balls with nine fours.Gagandeep Singh (19) was the last wicket to fall in the day. Javedtook three wickets for 61 runs. At stumps, Punjab had scored 300/9,with Vineet Sharma batting on eight and Babloo Kumar yet to open hisaccount.