Raini, Dharmani shine yet again

For the second day running, the two not only raised a big stand between themselves but also notched up a century each with Raini hitting 117 off just 103 deliveries, while Dharmani three less of 121 balls. Raini’s knock contained a six and 11 hits to the ropes while Dharmani, tentative to start with, hit nine boundaries.

All the good work done by Ravinder Bhandari in the early over with the scalp of Rana, was undone by the two batsmen as they scored 251 with seven legal deliveries to spare.

Earlier, another Punjab Ranji bowler, Bharat Bhushan’s effort of three for 60 sent the DS Group on the back foot as they, with a courageous 68 by Sarvesh Gupta at the top and Rajiv Rathore’s 63 in the middle order, put up a challenging 250 for seven in their 40 overs. Balwinder also used the long handle effectively to hit an unbeaten 43.

Brief scores: DS Group (250 for 7: S. Gupta 68, R. Rathore 63, Balwinder 43 not out, B. Bhushan 3 for 60) lost to SBP (251 for 1: R. Raini 117 not out, P. Dharmani 114 not out).