Punjab poised for victory

Mohali: Punjab were well placed to score a victory over Himachal Pradesh at stumps on the third day of their North Zone Ranji Trophy match here on Tuesday.

Punjab declared their second innings at lunch at 176 for six, setting HP a target of 402 for victory in 143 overs. At close of play, HP were reeling at 127 for five.

Punjab resumed their second innings at the score of 38 for 2. Dinesh Mongia slammed a well compiled century and added 133 runs for the third wicket with his overnight partner Amit Sharma (33).

Mongia smashed three consective boundaries to square leg off Shakti Singh who got six wickets in the first innings. Jaswant Rai who replaced Shakti Singh was also punished by Mongia as he hit 22 runs from his first two overs which included two big sixes and one hit to the fence. Mongia completed his fifth century in the Ranji Trophy while playing in his 43rd innings of his 28th match off just 109 balls with 10 hits to fence and two mighty sixes. Amit Sharma (33) also made a valuable contribution.

In the HP second innings, skipper Rajiv Nayyar (38) was at the crease after playing patiently for 219 minutes and facing 149 balls. Nischal Gaur (37) added 46 runs for second wicket with Nayyar. He was unlucky to be given leg before to Sodhi when he appeared to have played the ball.

Sangram Singh (21) also stayed for 71 minutes at the wicket and added 47 runs for third wicket. He was taken at gully by Mongia off Navdeep Singh to be the third batsman out at 95. Yashwinder Singh (0) also departed at the same total due to a brillant catch in the slips by Amit Sharma off Navdeep Singh in the same over.

For Punjab, Navdeep Singh got two wickets for 22 runs while Sandeep Sharma, Sodhi and Sarandeep shared a wicket each.

HP still face the uphill task of getting 275 runs in the remaining 90 overs on Wednesday with only five wickets in hand.