Harbhajan makes his mark

Punjab skipper takes 3/35 and hits 79 to help team beat Maharashtra by two-wickets.

There were no angry roars or trademark punches in the air; instead,Harbhajan Singhs reaction was uncharacteristically muted after the Punjab skipper enjoyed his best day on the field since being relegated to domestic cricket last year.

Harbhajans all-round show was the highlight of this Vijay Hazare Trophy game. First he picked up three wickets for 35 runs before cracking an unbeaten 79 off 94 deliveries as Punjab defeated Maharashtra by two wickets at the Palam ground on Monday to make the quarterfinals.

Needing 187,Punjab suffered a top-order collapse and were staring at defeat having been reduced to 27 for five,with medium pacers Anupam Sanklecha and Mohsin Sayyed wreaking havoc.

A sixth-wicket partnership of 42 between Taruwar Kohli and Bipul Sharma fashioned a minor recovery,but the wheels came off again when the latter was dismissed on 24,falling to Chirag Khuranas off-spin.

At that point Punjab,with just four wickets in hand,needed 118 runs,and something of a miracle. If they didnt lose hope,there was a reason. Harbhajan might havent performed with the ball 8211; admittedly his primary role 8211; but with the bat,he has developed a reputation,having scored back-to-back centuries in Tests.

On Monday,he was the fulcrum around which Punjab began working their way from 69/6 to the target,which they eventually overhauled with 10 balls to spare.

The slow wicket supported spin,and demanded loads of patience from a batsman. In Harbhajan and Kohli,Punjab had a duo who put a price on their wicket. They made 86 runs for the seventh wicket in 119 balls.

Story continues below this ad

Kohli was run-out trying to steal a second run. The fall of the well-set batsman,with another 30 runs needed,had the potential to shift the momentum back in Maharashtras favour. To make it worse,Rahul Sharma was bowled first ball.

Safe tactics

However,Harbhajan and Manpreet Singh Gony adopted a safety-first approach. They countered the slowness off the wicket by playing with a straight bat and dealt in ones and twos. A slog-sweep from Harbhajan,which saw the fielder at deep mid-wicket spill the catch,was the only aberration in an otherwise disciplined innings. Gony,too,curbed his natural instinct to ensure that Harbhajan didnt run out of partners.

With the target in sight,Harbhajan shifted gears. He hit a couple of boundaries and followed it up with a six off medium-pacer Anupam Sanklecha. Soon the scores were equal and the captain finished it off in style with another maximum.

Earlier,Maharashtra made a creditable recovery from two down in six overs with just nine runs on the board. Two partnerships 42 between Ankit Bawne and Kedhar Jadhav and 78 between Kedhar Jadhav and Nikhil Paradkar resurrected the innings. Harbhajan looked like he would end the day with the wicket column blank,having failed to get a breakthrough in his spell of seven overs.

Story continues below this ad

However,in a dream second spell,he picked up three wickets for just four runs.

Brief scores: Maharashtra 186 for 9 in 50 overs Nikhil Paradkar 42,Kedar Jadhav 41,Sunil Yadav 22 n.o; Harbhajan Singh 3/35,Rahul Sharma 2/45; Punjab 192 for 8 in 48.2 overs Harbhajan Singh 79 n.o,Taruwar Kohli 46; Mohsin Sayyed 3/43,Anupam Sanklecha 2/21,Chirag Khurana 2/40