Mongia puts J&K attack to rout

The first triple century of the 2000-2001 Ranji Trophy was scored by 23 year old Punjab southpaw Dinesh Mongia at Burlton Park in Jalandhar on Tuesday. Mongia caned a hapless Jammu & Kashmir attack, finishing with an unbeaten 308 as Punjab declared at 587/5. Their opponents who trailed by a humongous 419 on first innings were en route to an innings defeat at stumps, closing at 118/3 in their second essay.

Resuming at 366/3, Mongia and Pankaj Dharmani extended their fourth wicket association to 388 before the latter presented persevering seamer Surendra Singh with his fourth wicket. Dharmani's 176 came off 253 balls and was studded with 13 fours and 3 sixes. Last season this Indian ODI discard had hoisted a triple ton against the same opponents. This time it was Mongia's turn.

Although Mongia lost wicket keeper Harminder Jugnu cheaply, wrist spinning allrounder Sandeep Sawal proved to be a more reliable partner. The duo raised an undefeated 133 run stand for the sixth wicket. Mongia completed his 300 in just over eight hours at the crease and when he finally trudged off the field, he had 15 fours and 5 sixes to his credit in his 409 ball knock. Sawal for his part had struck a breezy half century off only 56 deliveries. The only J&K bowler who escaped the mauling was Surendra Singh who retained the respectable figures of 4/97 in 27 overs.

Off spinner Harbhajan Singh, currently out of favour with the national selectors, ran rings around the J&K top order in their reply. He despatched both openers Vidya Bhaskar and Ranjit Bali and added the scalp of one-drop Kanwaljit Singh, top scorer in the first innings, for good measure to leave J&K at 73/3. Ashwani Gupta (33) and Dhruv Mahajan (24) perked up the innings with an unbeaten 45 run stand, which left the visitors needing a further 301 to avoid an innings defeat.