Punjab spins Services to an innings defeat

Superb spin bowling performance by Harbhajan Singh (5/40) and Sandeep Sanwal (4/41) helped Punjab score a convincing victory of an innings and 166 runs over Services in the fourth round of Ranji Trophy North Zone League on sunday.

Services started the third day of the match at 69/1 needing another 274 runs to make Punjab bat again. Deepak Sherawar who had compiled a half century (56) was caught by Vikram Rathour off the bowling of Gagandeep Singh at the score of 97. Sandeep Sawal with his leg spin had the following three wickets to finish with a tally of 4 for 41 of 19 overs. After the fall of the fifth wicket, India test discard Harbhajan Singh came into his elements as he removed all the remaining five wickets. The latter half of Services had no answer to the guile of Harbhajan Singh's off spin.

The Services innings collapsed like a house of cards and came to an end on 177. This enabled Punjab to notch up their fourth straight Innings victory of the season. The other highlights of the match were the wonderful bowling performance by the Punjab seamer Bharat Bushan (8/51) who ran through the Services first Innings and the brilliant century by Punjab's Pankaj Dharmani (128).