Mohit, Hooda bowl Haryana to victory

Lahli, December 17

Medium pacers Mohit Sharma and Ashish Hooda shared nine wickets between them to guide hosts Haryana to a 53-run win over Maharashtra in their Ranji Trophy match here today.
The 26-year-old Mohit, who has represented India in 11 ODIs so far, returned with a five-wicket haul, while Hooda scalped four wickets to stop Maharashtra at 154, well short of the 208-run target.
Ashish struck twice early in the morning, removing opener Chirag Khurana (12) and Sangram Atitkar (0) in the seventh over to reduce Maharashtra to 18/2. Sharma then struck twin blows in the 15th over, dismissing opener Harshad Khadiwale (26) and Motwani (5).
Ashish then trapped Ankit Bawne lbw as Maharashtra lost half of their side in just 17.4 overs with 66 on board. Kedar Jadhav tried his best to keep Maharashtra in the chase with a run-a-ball 29 but Sharma trapped him lbw just when he had begun to look dangerous.
Brief scores:      Haryana: 136 and 176; Maharashtra: 105 and 154 all out in 39.2 (Rahul Tripathi 39; Mohit Sharma 45/5).
Punjab pick three points from drawn game
Nagpur: Punjab walked away with three points from the drawn match against Vidarbha on the basis of slender 37-run first innings lead here today. At the end of the match, Vidarbha were 143 for three in 58 overs while chasing a target of 293 runs.
Punjab were all out for 255 in their second innings this morning with Gitansh Khera notching up exactly a 100 off 172 deliveries, laced with 11 fours and a six.
Brief scores: Punjab: 195 and 255; Vidarbha: 158 and 143/3 in 58 overs (S Badrinath 49 not out, Baltej Singh 1/28). — PTI