Punjab’s Mandeep falls 9 short of ton

Rajkot, February 2

Captain Mandeep Singh struck a patient 91 to hand Punjab a crucial first-innings lead of 128 runs on the third day of their Ranji Trophy quarterfinals match against Saurashtra here today.

Mandeep added 52 runs to his overnight 39 as Punjab folded at 431 off 124.3 overs, in reply to Saurashtra’s 303 all out. His 91 came off 206 balls. Anmol Malhotra made 41 from 77 balls as Punjab added 104 runs from 33.4 overs today. Dharmendrasinh Jadeja returned with figures of 5/109 in 41.3 overs.

Saurashtra were 138/4 in 54 overs in their second innings at stumps for an overall lead of 10 runs. Left-arm spinner Vinay Choudhary (3/61) removed three of the top four batters — Harvik Desai (0), Vishvaraj Jadeja (4) and Sheldon Jackson (21). Veteran Siddarth Kaul got the wicket of opener Snell Patel (33).

Brief scores: Saurashtra: 303 & 138/4 (Vasavada 44*; Choudhary 3/61) vs Punjab: 431 (Dhir 131, Prabhsimran 126, Mandeep 91; Jadeja 5/109); Uttarakhand 116 & 106/3 (Kaverappa 2/22) vs Karnataka 606 (Gopal 161*, Agarwal 83; Negi 4/109); Jharkhand: 173 & 162/7 (Sen 64; Ghatak 2/19) vs Bengal: 328 (Ahmed 81; Ashish 3/89); Andhra Pradesh: 379 & 93 (Avesh 4/24) vs Madhya Pradesh: 228 & 58/0.