Sahil steers Jharkhand to 318/9 on Day 1

Chandigarh, December 24

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An unbeaten century by Sahil Raj helped Jharkhand pile on 318/9 on the opening day of their Cooch Behar Trophy match against Punjab even as Amit Shukla claimed six wickets for the hosts at Dhruv Pandove Stadium in Patiala on Monday.  

At the close of the day’s play, Raj was batting on 102 and giving him company at the other end was Sushant Mishra on zero.

Earlier, opting to bat first, Jharkhand openers Vineet Chauhan and Pankaj Kumar made a sedate beginning, putting up 45 runs in nearly 13 overs before Shukla struck for the hosts. 

Kumar was cleaned up by the left-arm spinner after scoring 18 runs off 33 balls.

Chauhan (27) fell to Arjun Pappal 21 runs later and the visitors seemed to be in a spot of bother at 66/2. However, skipper Shresht Sagar added 52 runs for the third wicket in company of Ankit (31) before forging another 69-run partnership with Raj to give Jharkhand innings some stability. 

Sagar eventually fell to Shukla on 65 runs. His 102-ball stay in the middle was studded with nine boundaries.   

Marwah, who joined Raj at the fall of Sagar’s wicket, lasted just 28 balls. He was caught by Ketan Mankotia off Shukla on 17 as the visitors went for the tea break at 231/5.

After the break, Raj and Ayush got together and pushed the total to 273 runs before Shukla struck again for the hosts. Ayush after scoring a good-looking 33 holed out to Anshul Chaudhary. 

Yuvraj Kumar (8), Manishi (0) and Amit Kumar (4) fell in quick succession as Jharkhand slumped to 298/9, with Raj left stranded at 95. 

He, though, got some decent support from Sushant Mishra and finally brought up his century in the 87th over of the day.   

For the hosts, Shukla bagged 6/99, while Pappal picked up 3/61. — TNS