Another day, another Yadav

Ravneet Ricky and Reetinder Singh Sodhi set everything going right for the hosts with a century together until Yadav happened.

The two batsmen thoroughly enjoyed the sound of the timber while hitting the ball in the quiet Mohali Stadium. The ball was so well coming on to the bat that Sodhi took all his time to decide a shot and in the process hit his own wicket. With the momentum gone along with the partner, Ricky lost his concentration too, missing the line completely to give Yadav his two wickets for the day.

Except for Punjab captain Pankaj Dharmani, who managed to stem the rot to an extent, the rest of the top-order appeared clueless for most of the while. Dharmani remained unbeaten on 24 and will now bat for another day to keep his side in the match.

Railways, meanwhile, kept the pressure going at the other end through India discard Harvinder Singh. Singh’s wife — the only spectator at the Stadium — watched the game intensely as Harvinder’s chin-music kept Punjab ducking for cover.

One of those neatly pitched bouncers claimed left-arm batsman Ankur Kakkar. The ball hit Kakkar’s gloves while he was protecting his head, and ballooned to the second slip where Jai Prakash Yadav made no mistake.

The last wicket of the day went to off-spinner Kulamani Parida. Gaurav Gupta forgot his basics for a minute and decided to pad-away a straight delivery from Parida, his leg plumb in line of the wicket.

Punjab were left looking at the clock before the stipulated overs for the day were finally bowled. As Railways skipper Sanjay Bangar walked out, there was a sense of relief in the all-rounder’s attitude.

Bangar, as well as his team, came to Mohali to face Punjab who have been in top form throughout the season. The lesser-fancied side to claim the title until now, currently are sitting pretty on the road to a possible second Ranji Trophy triumph.

Punjab, on the other hand, will remind themselves of their famous victory over Mumbai in the recent semifinal and give their coach Intikhab Alam the perfect season’s gift. The hosts, however, are currently fighting with the last recognised pair of Dharmani and Muneesh Sharma, after which the tail will begin to take over.

Earlier, the visitors ended their first innings at 355 all out with overnight batsman Raja Ali giving away after an impressive 80. With another 196 runs needed to surpass the Railways first innings score, Punjab will be wanting to know who their Man Friday possibly is.

Brief scores

: 355 (Sanjay Bangar 79, Amit Pagnis 40, J P Yadav 63, Raja Ali 80, Vineet Sharma 5-91, Rajesh Sharma 2-42) vs Punjab: 159-4 (R Ricky 47, RS Sodhi 51, P Dharmani batting 24, M Yadav 2-25).