Rahul, Varun star as Punjab gain lead

Rahul Arora's unbeaten 112 and his fourth wicket partnership of 121 runs with opener Varun Gupta (95) went a long way in clinching the vital first innings lead for Punjab against Saurashtra on the second day of their Vijay Merchant Trophy knock out tournament quarterfinal at Kolkata on Saturday. Replying to Saurashtra's score of 295, Punjab by brisk scoring, had made 312 for six wickets off 78 overs by stumps.

Saurashtra had the comfort of some early wickets and at 69 for three, Punjab were not very comfortably placed. But Varun Gupta and Rahul Arora turned the innings around with their crucial association. Gupta was out at 190 after facing 135 balls and hitting 16 fours. Arora found another valuable ally in Gaurav Gupta (28) with whom he added 46 runs for the sixth wicket. And finally Arora and Tarun Kansh (44 not out) added 65 runs for the unbroken seventh wicket to steer Punjab ahead. By close, Arora had batted four hours, faced 163 balls and hit ten fours. Kansh, who dominated the unbroken stand, had faced 84 balls and hit eight of them to the ropes.

Earlier, Saurashtra resuming at Thursday's score of 269 for eight (there was no play on Friday because of a bandh in the state) were all out after adding 26 runs. Amit Sinha, who came in at No 9 on Thursday evening and resumed at 57, was last out for the top score of 75. He faced 144 balls and hit 12 fours. Vipul Sharma, who took both the wickets to fall on Saturday morning, finished with five for 43.