Rich haul for Harbhajan

Tamil Nadu’s Thiru Kumaran was the first to go, caught at squareleg by Sarandeep Singh off Harbhajan Singh for 23 (4×4) and then the off-spinner clean bowled Mahesh for no score.

Harbhajan’s next victim was Tamil Nadu mainstay, Sriram, who tried to steer and was caught at point by Dinesh Mongia. Sriram made 165 (509m, 278b, 20×4).

Rajat Bhatia offered some resistance, but he to fell to Harbhajan — his third wicket in the space of 15 balls for nine runs.

Medium pacer Sandeep Sharma dimissed Reubal Paul, who was clean bowled for 32. Gokulakrishnan remained not out at 21.

In reply, Punjab openers, Reetinder Sodhi and Vikram Rathore went strong — the latter was caught behind by Reuban Paul off Mahesh for 89 (10 fours).

At close, Rathore (37, 4×4) and Pankaj Dharmani (0) were at the crease when play was stopped due to bad light with 11 of the stipulated 90 overs yet to be bowled.

SCOREBOARD

Tamil Nadu: (1st innings) Sridharan Sriram c Mongia b Harbhajan 165, Sadagoppan Ramesh c Jugnu b RP Singh 18, Hemang Badani c Rathore b Sarandeep 70, JR Madanagopal c Rathore b Youraj 35, Sridharan Sharath c Rathore b Harbhajan 33, Aashish Kapoor run out 5, Thiru Kumaran c S Sharma b Harbhajan 23, Rajat Bhatia c Rathore b Harbhajan 24, Sadagoppan Mahesh b Harbhajan 0, Reuben Paul b Sarandeep 32, DJ Gokulakrishnan not out 21. Extras (b11, lb3, w1, nb20) 35. Total (all out in 128.1 overs) 546
Fall of wickets: 1-47, 2-197, 3-251, 4-330, 5-338, 6-368, 7-387, 8-387, 9-414
Bowling: Sandeep Sharma 24.1-1-93-1, RP Singh 23-1-81-1, Harbhajan 37.4 9-106-5, Sodhi 16-1-80-0, Sarandeep 21.2-5-58-1, Youraj 4-0-24-0, Mongia 2-0-5-0

Punjab: (2nd innings) Vikram Rathore batting 37, Reetinder Singh c Paul b Mahesh 89, Harminder Jugnu run out 0, Pankaj Dharmani batting O. Extras (nb1) 1. Total (for 2 wkts) 127
Fall of wicketss: 1-126, 2-126.
Bowling: Kumaran 9-1-36-0, Mahesh 7-0-19-1, Gokulakrishnan 6-2-13-0, Kapoor 10-3-32-0, Bhatia 4-0-14-0, Sriram 5.2-0-13-0

Kanwaljit scalps six

KANPUR: Veteran Hyderabad off-spinner Kanwaljit Singh claimed a six wicket haul for 97 runs but Uttar Pradesh still managed to gain a vital 71-run first innings lead on the third day here on Saturday.

Hyderabad then reached 72 for one at stumps, effectively one run ahead with nine second innings wickets in hand as the match was poised on a knife’s edge at the Green Park Stadium.

Opener Nand Kishore was batting on 35 with VVS Laxman on 20 at stumps. Opener Daniel Manohar was the lone man out, caught at mid-off by Mushi Raza off rookie speedster Ratnesh Mishra.

But it was Kanwaljit Singh who brought Hyderabad back into the match as he bowled a superb line to trouble UP batsmen and restricted the hosts to 362 in their first knock.

Resuming at 206 for three, UP were poised for a big score. The hosts, however, suffered a big setback when overnight batsman Mohd Kaif for 66.

SCOREBOARD

Hyderabad: (1st innings) 291

Uttar Pradesh: (1st innings) Mohammad Saif lbw Pratap 18, Jyoti Yadav lbw Kanwaljit 61, Mohammad Kaif b NP Singh 66, Rizwan Shamshad b Kanwaljit 27, Gyanendra Pandey b Lanwaljit 47, Saurabh Shukla c Riyaz b Pratap 16, Pradeep Yadav c Manohar b Kanwaljit 20, AW Zaidi c Raju b Kanwaljit 52, Musi Raza run out 4, Ratnesh Misra c & b Kanwaljit 19, Salabh Srivastava not out 2. Extras: 30. Total: 362
Fall of wickets: 1-69, 2-119, 3-171. 4-213, 5-248, 6-268, 7-314, 8-330, 9-357
Bowling: NP Singh 18-2-86-1, Satvalkar 20-4-65-0, Manohar 4-1-13-0, Pratap 21-10-34-2, Kanwaljit 48.2-16-97-6, Raju 24-9-50-0

Hyderabad: (2nd innings) Nand Kishore batting 35, Daniel Manohar c Raza b Misra 14, VVS Laxman batting 20. Extras: 3. Total: (for one wicket): 72
Fall of wicket: 1-29
Bowling: Zaidi 8-3-12-0, Srivastava 7-3-15-0, Misra 6-1-20-1, Pandey 5-3-3-0, Raza 4-0-14-0, Mohammad Kaif 1-0-5-0