NEW DELHI, December 25: Not many teams will let go an opportunity of thrashing Haryana. But the Services have found the knack of losing games from winning positions as was witnessed in a truncated North Zone one-day league match at Harbaksh Stadium here today.Chasing the victory target of 174 in 41 overs, Services were coasting along comfortably. But, from 121 for three in 30 overs, they slumped for the mere addition of 28 runs in the next 7.4 overs. Haryana won the game by 24 runs.Although Services began on a sedate note - they were 38 runs for two off 17 overs - opener Sarabjeet Singh (59: 7x4, 91b) and skipper Chinmaya Sharma (34: 2x4, 44b) accelerated to add 79 runs in the next 13 overs and put pressure on Haryana.But the fall of a well-set Sarabjeet, who played a casual one-handed flick off Vineet Jain to Shafiq at deep square-leg, proved fatal. The remaining Services batsmen pushed the panic button too early and lost a game, which they should have won comfortably. Off-spinner Pankaj Thakur ran through the Services lower order, capturing four wickets.Earlier, Dhanraj, batting with a runner because of a hamstring injury on his right leg, scored a breezy 31 that included two mighty sixes (one each off medium pacer Javed and spinner Maitrey).Haryana were led by Nitin Goel in the absence of Vijay Yadav who failed to turn up.The win for Haryana was a revenge over the Services. The former lost their game at Faridabad last year.The two teams will renew the battle over the next four days in their Ranji Trophy league. Haryana's seasoned campaigner Amarjeet Kaypee (25 centuries so far) will be playing his 100th match.ScoreboardHaryana: Nitin Goel st Sarabjeet b Chinmaya Sharma 27; Parinder Sharma c Sanjay Verma b Syed Javed 5; Jatinder Singh c Thomson b Sanjeev Mishra 8; Shafiq Khan b Arun Sharma 33; R Puri c Nadkarni b Chinmaya Sharma 1; Dhanraj Singh c Nadkarni b Arun Sharma 31; Sanjay Dalal b Syed Javed 6; Jasvir Singh not out 19; P Thakur c and b J P Pandey 11; V Jain run out 4; Sonu Sharma not out 16.Extras: (lb 2, w 8, nb 2): 12;Total (for 9 wkts, 41 overs): 173.Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-42, 3-60, 4-74, 5-92, 6-119, 7-121, 8-144, 9-148.Bowling: J P Pandey 8-0-34-1, Syed Javed 8-0-38-2, Sanjeev Mishra 6-1-20-1, Chinmaya Sharma 8-1-27-2, Arun Sharma 8-1-33-2, P maitrey 3-0-19-0.Services: Narender Singh lbw V Jain 2; Sarabjeet Singh c Shafiq Khan b V Jain 59; P Maitrey c Puri b Thakur 12; Sanjay Verma st Jasvir Singh b Dhanraj Singh 2; Chinmaya Sharma run out 34; C D Thomson b Thakur 0; A. Nadkarni b Thakur 7; Syed Javed b Sonu Sharma 0; J P Pandey lbw Dalal 3; Sanjeev Mishra c Puri b Thakur 10; Arun Sharma not out 1. Extras (lb 6, w 13): 19;Total (all out, 37.4 overs): 149.Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-36, 3-42, 4-121, 5-123, 6-124, 7-124, 8-133, 9-146.Bowling: V Jain 7-1-14-2, Dhanraj 9-2-16-1, P Thakur 6.4-0-31-4, Sonu Sharma 7-0-40-1, Parinder Sharma 3-0-21-0, Dalal 5-0-21-1.
