Haryana struggling to avoid follow on

Patiala: Haryana at 203 for 8, still needed 48 runs to avoid the follow-on on the second day of the North Zone Cooch Behar cricket match against Punjab here on Tuesday.

Earlier, resuming at 304 for five, opener Ravneet Ricky completed a brilliant double century to power Punjab to 400 for 7 declared. He scored 48 runs off 32 balls in the morning to complete a well-deserved double hundred. In all Rickey was at the crease for 439 minutes and faced 331 balls to score 201 runs with the help of 26 hits to the fence. The Punjab skipper declared the innings after Rickey was bowled by Sumeet Sharma.

The other overnight batsman Ankur Sodhi contributed 45 runs with the help of four boundaries before he was caught by Joginder Sharma off Sumeet and added 114 runs with Ricky for the sixth wicket. Joginder Sharma and Sumeet Sharma took two wickets each giving away 85 and 51 runs respectively.

When Haryana batted, they found runs hard to come by. Only Isham Ganda (58), Sumeet Sharma (38) and Sukhbir Chodhary (33) could put up some resistance. Amit Uniyal was the most successful bowler taking three wickets for 34 runs while Sanjay Dhull got two wickets giving away 46 runs.