Riding on Sorabh Chohan's unbeaten knock of 105 runs in the second innings,Rajasthan managed to eke out a draw against Punjab in the Col CK Nayudu Trophy for U-25 at the Dhruv Pandove Stadium on Monday. Punjab garnered three points for their first innings lead against Gujarat while Rajasthan logged one point as the match ended in a draw. Facing a huge deficit of 273,Rajasthan batsmen batted with a purpose and settled for a draw. Resuming from overnight score of 56 for 1,Rajasthan scored 294 for 5 when the play ended. Sorabh Chohan,who hit an unbeaten century (105) off 305 balls inclusive of 15 boundaries,held the innings together. He was associated in a match saving stand of 180 runs for the second-wicket with skipper Pranay Sharma,who scored 70 off 192 balls studded with 13 boundaries. Pranay was dismissed by Ahluwalia off Sharad Lumba. Atul Bhatia (44) and Arjit Gupta (27) were the other main contributors with the bat. Punjab bowlers failed to extract anything from the placid wicket as their skipper employed as many as nine bowlers in the fray. Sharad Lumba,the part time spinner,was the most successful bowler with (2 for 42).Punjab now travel to Ahmedabad where they will take on Gujarat in a four-day match starting on November 2. Brief Scores: Rajasthan: (1st innings): 228 for 8 (Pranay Sharma 81,Saurabh Chohan 75,Atul Bhatia 29,Rajesh Bishnoi 25,Gurinder Singh 4 for 59,Yogesh Kumar 2 for 74,Taruwar Kohli 1 for 39,Rahul Singla 1 for 36) (2nd Innings): 294 for 5 in 121 overs (Sorabh Chohan 105 no,Pranay Sharma 70,Atul Bhatia 44,Arjit Gupta 27,Sharad Lumba 2 for 42)Punjab (1st innings): 527 for 8 decl. (Sharad Lumba 139,Gitansh Khera 102,Gurinder Singh 100,Ravi Inder Singh 40,Ravee Sharma 4 for 166,Rajesh Bishnoi 3 for 119) Prashants effort in vain Meanwhile in the match played at Bilaspur,Gujarat recorded an innings win over hosts Himachal Pradesh. Although Himachal Pradesh lost the match,India U-19 World Cup star,Prashant Chopra,smashed a brilliant knock of 195 runs in the second innings. However,his knock went in vain. Playing in the first innings,Prashant had hit 105 runs. Brief scores: Gujarat (Ist Innings): 482 all out (Chirag 103,Rahul Chara 4 for 87),Himachal Pradesh (Ist Innings): 326 all out (Prashant Chopra 105,Nikhil Gangta 68,Varun Sharma 63),(2nd Innings) (follow on): 320 for 5 for no loss (Prashant Chopra 195,Saransh 35,Amit 30,Jaisal Patel 2 for 70).
