Dharmani slams ton to bail out Punjab

A century knock from the dependable Pankaj Dharmani (106) enabled Punjab to score 300 runs for the loss of nine wickets against Services during their North Zone Ranji match being played at Gandhi Ground, Amritsar, today.

Services won a good toss on a grassy wicket and wisely put their opponents in to bat. Seamers Sudhakar Ghag and Syed Javed proved the decision right as they sent three top order batsman back to the pavilion with the scoreboard reading just 32. Ravneet Ricky (0) was the first to depart, in the very first over of the day, dismissed by Ghag. Vikram Rathour (1)threw away his wicket in the fourth over as he chased a delivery off Javed to give a simple catch to Yashpal Singh at point. Manish Sharma irresponsibly steered an outgoing delivery off Ghag to gully fielder PM Reddy, who did not make any mistake.

Seasoned campaigner Dharmani then joined southpaw Yuvraj Singh, who was looking in good nick from the very first ball that he faced. The duo lived up to their reputation to get their team out of the woods. Dharmani was in tremendous touch and seemed to be unshakeable even though the ball was seaming a lot because of the early moisture in the wicket. The seam trio of Ghag, Javed and Pandey bowled an accurate line and length, but the pair took their team score to 97 for three at the stroke of lunch. Dharmani completed his half century with a classic off-drive to the boundary off Pandey.

The second session of the day was dominated by Punjab as they scored 99 runs and lost only the wicket of Yuvraj Singh, who lost his cool just 54 minutes before tea. Yuvraj Singh (67) became the third victim of Ghag as he drove at an outgoing delivery, playing away from the body, giving a regulation catch for wicket-keeper Sarabjit Singh.

Yuvraj's knock of 67 runs came in 121 balls, with nine hits to fence and a mighty six during his stay of 156 minutes at the crease. The pair added 127 valuable runs for the fourth wicket partnership. Dinesh Mongia (11) came in at the fall of Yuvraj's wicket and stayed for 54 minutes at the crease but made the same mistake as Yuvraj just two minutes after tea. Javed brought about the dismissal, with the scoreboard reading 196 for five. Reetinder Singh Sodhi then stepped to join Dharmani, who was holding the fort from one end.

Dharmani played elegant stokes to all parts of the ground, completing his century in style as he cut a short ball from Pandey to the point boundary. 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 then became the fourth scalp of Ghag. Sodhi, in the company of tail-ender Gagandeep Singh, put on 41 valuable runs. He missed his half-century by two runs, caught and bowled by Ghag while trying to pull a short ball and mistiming it; his knock came off 74 balls with nine fours.

Gagandeep Singh (19) was the last wicket to fall in the day. Javed took three wickets for 61 runs. At stumps, Punjab had scored 300/9, with Vineet Sharma batting on eight and Babloo Kumar yet to open his account.