CHANDIGARH IN SIGHT OF VICTORY

Patiala,resuming from their overnight score of 95 for 5,were all out for 178 in 68.5 overs in their first innings. Karan Kaila remained unbeaten on 42 off 70 deliveries. Abhilash Sharma grabbed four wickets for 41 runs while Aman Bharti bowled beautifully to pick up three wickets.

Trailing by 268 runs,Patiala were forced to follow on. The host team,however,failed to learn anything from the first innings failure and once again put on an insipid batting display. After losing their first two wickets for mere 33 runs,Chandigarh bowlers spitted fire and dominated over the Patiala batsmen. Only Prabhjot Singh and Himanshu Chawla showed some resistance and added 39 runs for the third wicket,taking the score to 72 before Singh was out for 17.

Himanshu top scored for the team with 45 off just 46 balls before he was snapped by wicketkeeper Jaskaran Singh off Naveen Dhiman. Another fruitful partnership of 61 runs for the fifth wicket between Karan Kaila (42) and Vikrant Sirohi (31) bolstered the team’s total. At the end of the day’s play,Patiala were struggling at 197 for 6 in 53 runs,still needing 71 runs to avoid an innings defeat. Abhilash once again bowled beautifully to take two wickets while Aman Bharti and Naveen Dhiman also bagged two wickets each.

Brief Scores:

Chandigarh: 1st innings: 446 all out in 147.3 overs; Patiala: 1st innings: 178 for all in 63.4 overs (Karan Kaila 42 no,Jeewanjot Singh 28,Abhilash Sharma 4 for 41,Aman Bharti 3 for 57,Ratan Singh 2 for 25); Patiala: 2nd innings: 197 for 6 for all in 68 overs.

(Himanshu Chawla 45,Karan Kaila 42,Vikrant Sarohi 31,Naveen Dhiman 2 for 22,Abhilash Sharma 2 for 48,Aman Bharti 2 for 61)

Ludhiana take lead

Anil Sihag’s magnificent century (148) and half-centuries each from Himanshu (72) and Sandeep (56) helped Ludhiana gain first innings lead against Amritsar in their match that was played at the Gandhi Grounds.

Earlier,resuming from their overnight score of 193 for 5,Ludhiana went on to pile a huge total against the hosts. Sihag,batting on 75 overnight,smashed 148 off 320 balls with the help of 20 boundaries and one huge six. He added 89 runs for the sixth wicket with Gurinder Hara (25) and 96 for the seventh wicket with Himanshu. The latter then put on 83 valuable runs with Sandeep to help the team take a vital 58-run first innings lead. Sunny and Rahul Kanojia were the most successful bowlers of the day for Amritsar with three wickets each.

In their second innings,Amritsar ended the day at 32 for 2 in 12 overs. Medium pacer Sukhjinderjit removed both the openers Marwaha (6) and Karam Sharma (8) cheaply.

Brief Scores:

Amritsar: 1st Innings: 378 in 199.4 overs; Ludhiana: 1st Innings: 436 in 151.2 overs (Anil Sihag148,Himanshu 72,Sandeep 56,Akhil Agarwal 50,Gitansh Khera 25,Gurinder Hara 25,Sunny 3 for 89,Rahul Kanojia 3 for 111,Vinay Chaudhary 2 for 98); Amritsar: 2nd Innings: 32 for 2 in 12 overs (Sukhjinder 2 for 15

Jalandhar crush Mohali

Abhishek Gupta single-handedly took Jalandhar to victory as his triple century (311) helped the team thrash Mohali by an innings and 78 runs to garner six points,in the match played at Burlton Park. Sachin Sohal played a dogged knock for Mohali (159) but could not salvage them from crashing to an innings defeat.

Jalandhar resumed from their overnight total of 542 for 6 and added 58 runs to the team’s score before they declared their innings at 600 for 8 in 121.4 overs. Abhishek also completed his triple century (311) with the help of 41 boundaries and one towering six.

Needing a Herculean effort from their openers,Mohali lost their first wicket for 19 runs. Vaibhav Gupta and Sachin Sohal,however,resurrected the innings by putting on 63 runs for the second wicket. Another frutiful partnership of 96 runs ensued between Sohal and Maninder Singh (34). Birkanwar then joined Sohal and the duo added 108 runs for the fifth wicket but the partnership was broken when Sohal was dismissed by Yogesh for 159 runs,which he scored off 202 balls. His dismissal triggered a collapse and Mohali’s innings folded at 325 in 81.2 overs. Birkanwar scored 63 runs. Harry bagged four wickets while Yogesh grabbed three wickets for the winning team.

Brief Scores:

Mohali: 1st Innings: 197 in 77.5 overs; Jalandhar: 1st Innings: 600 for 8 declared (Abhishek Gupta 311,Siddharth Sharma 86,Love Kumar 65,Yogesh Kumar 35,Subek Gill 33 no,Narinder Singh 2 for 69,Gagandeep 2 for 111, Amrit Pal 1 for 107); Mohali: 2nd Innings: 325 in 81.3 overs (Sachin Sohal 159,Birkanwar 63,Maninder Singh 34,Harry 4 for 37,Yogesh Kumar 3 for 86).