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 Rathore (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. Munish 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 Sawal 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.

Shafiq Khan hit a fine 86, and his participation in a 71-run fifthwicket partnership enabled Haryana to score 282 for eight against Delhi on the opening day of their North Zone Ranji Trophy league match against Delhi.

Delhi skipper Mithun Manhas' decision to field after winning the toss did not yield the desired results as Haryana openers Padamjit Sehrawat and Chetan Sharma gave their side a sound start, putting up 54 runs for the first wicket. However, the visitors lost three wickets in space of 22 runs. Shehrawat scored 47 before being trapped legbefore by Amit Bhandari; Sharma, the first batsman to go, contributed 20. Skipper Parinder Sharma could score only eight, caught by Akash Chopra off Bhandari.

At lunch, Haryana were 105/3 off 29 overs; between lunch and tea, they scored only 79 runs, losing one more wicket. The post-tea session saw the visitors add 98 runs to their total, losing four more wickets. A 42-run fourth-wicket stand between Ishan Ganda (26) and Shafiq Khan established Haryana's innings; after the departure of Ganda, Ajay Ratra gave able support to Shafiq and both batsmen built up the innings by adding 71 runs for the fifth wicket.

The stand was finally broken by off-spinner Sarandeep Singh, who had Ratra (31) caught by Sohail Rauf. Haryana's score at that stage was 192 for five; they added 90 more runs for the loss of three wickets before stumps. Shafiq was the last batsman to be dismissed, sent back leg-before by Abhishek Sharma. His 86 was studded with two sixes and eight fours, and he batted 241 minutes, facing 181 balls in the process.

At stumps, Sumit Narwal ( 25) and Gaurav Vashist (0) were at the crease. Bhandari and Sarandeep had picked up two wickets each.

Jammu and Kashmir took advantage of Himachal Pradesh's reckless batting to bowl their rivals out for 145 in 75.1 overs on the first day of their North Zone Ranji league match at Mandi.

Ashwani Gupta and Jagtar Singh led the tourists' assault, claiming four and three wickets, while Surinder Singh and Vijay Sharma picked up two and one wicket respectively.

Earlier in the day, Himachal Pradesh won the toss and elected to bat. The hosts took the first blow in the 10th over when Nischal Gaur was caught behind by Vikrant Taggar of Surinder Singh. Barring Rajeev Nayyar, who remained unbeaten on 41, all the Himachal batsmen gifted away their wickets, negating the advantage of winning the toss and batting first on a good wicket.

At the end of the day, Jammu and Kashmir were at 22 for one in 15 overs.