Punjab revive hope on Day 3

Resuming from their overnight score of 25 for no loss,Punjab openers Jaskaran Singh and Rohan Marwaha added 111 runs for the first wicket in 32.5 overs before Marwaha departed after playing a knock of 57 runs off 93 balls.

Marwaha smashed four boundaries and two towering sixes before he was caught by A Singh off the bowling of Kuldeep Singh. Punjab then lost three quick wickets in the space of 13 overs with Jaskaran Singh,who played a patient knock of 59 runs off 139 balls,being one of the three batsmen to be dismissed.

Bhupinder Singh (10) and Karan Kaila 93) were the next to go before Simranpreet Singh and Maninder Singh stitched together a fruitful partnership of 98 runs for the fifth wicket. The partnership ended when Simranpreet was run out by Mihir Hirwani for 57 runs off 134 balls. Simranpreet smashed seven boundaries during his knock.

On the other hand,Maninder Singh played patiently and played some fine shots during his knock of 70 runs off 155 balls. Singh found an able ally in Mohit Handa and the duo took Punjab’s total of 277 for 5 before the end of the day’s play. Singh smashed ten boundaries during his stay at the crease on the third day of the match. Handa was unbeaten on 12 runs off 36 balls.

For Madhya Pradesh,Kukpreet Singh was the pick of the bowlers as he claimed three wickets for 80 runs. Punjab will look forward to add some vital runs on the last day to gain a vital first innings’ lead over MPCA.

Brief scores : MPCA : 445 all out in 171.4 overs; Punjab : 277 for 5 in 104 overs (Maninder Singh 70 no,Jaskaran Singh 59,Rohan Marwaha 57,Simranpreet Singh 57,Kulpreet Singh 3 for 80).