Punjab poised for victory thrust

Punjab were well on their way to completing an emphatic victory over Bihar at stumps on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Super League group B match at the PCA stadium in Mohali on Monday. Bihar, in arrears by 259 runs on the first innings, were 94 for four at close of play.

Resuming at 268 for four in reply to Bihar's 244, Punjab were already in a position of considerable strength and on the penultimate day they consolidated. First, the batsmen did their job commendably and skipper Vikram Rathour was able to declare the innings at 503 for nine. Rathour, who was 137 overnight, was out for 158. But the other overnight not out batsman Dinesh Mongia who resumed on 67 went on to make 179. He and Rathour added 190 runs for the fifth wicket off 44 overs Then Mongia put on 113 runs for the sixth wicket off 26 overs with wicketkeeper H Jagnu (53). Mongia was dismissed at this stage after having faced 220 balls and hitting 25 fours. Jagnu and Sandeep Sharma then maintained the run spree by adding 57 runs for the seventh wicket off 12.5 overs. While Jagnu faced 131 balls and hit only one boundary, Sharma faced only 39 balls and hit four of them to the ropes.

When Bihar batted a second time, opening bowler Gagandeep Singh who had taken four for 44 in the first innings dismissed Javed Khan and A Hashmi in the same over. He later picked up the wicket of Rajiv Kumar. Harbhajan Singh, who had taken five for 69 in the first innings, forced N Ranjan into giving him a return catch. Skipper Sunil Kumar with an unbeaten 30 with three fours and a six was batting at stumps but a Punjab victory, probably by an innings, is surely round the corner.