The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Punjab dominates day's play

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Saturday, Mar 19, 2005

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Punjab dominates day's play

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI, MARCH 18. Punjab's trio of seamers, Gagandeep Singh, Vikram Singh and Reetinder Singh Sodhi, proved too hot to handle for the Mumbai batsmen on the first day of their Ranji Trophy semifinal at the Wankhede here on Friday. Unable to cope with speed, seam movement and bounce on a helpful pitch the home team was shot out for a modest 251.

Punjab's domination might have been complete had it not been for left arm spinner Nilesh Kulkarni's double strike, including that of Yuvraj Singh for a duck, in his third over. The last session of play, extended by 45 minutes, amply demonstrated Mumbai's fighting virtues. Mumbai was saved further embarrassment by the 83-run sixth wicket stand between Ajit Agarkar and Amol Muzumdar.

An injury to Sodhi's right shoulder after a fall necessitated a change in the Punjab opening pair. Gaurav Gupta defended as well he could against Agarkar and Avishkar Salvi, but offered a straightforward catch to Vinit Indulkar in the leg trap off Kulkarni. Yuvraj, who joined the Punjab team for this match, faced just three balls before giving a return catch to Kulkarni.

The scores:

Mumbai — 1st innings: V. Mane c Mongia b Gagandeep 0, W. Jaffer c Yuvraj b Gagandeep 6, V. Indulkar c Dharmani b V.R.V. Singh 14, A. Muzumdar c Sodhi b Navdeep 75, Nishit Shetty lbw b Sodhi 21, S. Bahutule lbw b Gagandeep 9, A. Agarkar c Yuvraj b Sodhi 47, R. Powar c Dharmani b V.R.V. Singh 32, V. Samant c Gupta b Gangandeep 4, N. Kulkarni c Dharmani b V.R.V. Singh 12, A. Salvi (not out) 7; Extras (b-4, lb-10, nb-9, w-1) 24; Total: (in 69.1 overs) 251.

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-23, 3-34, 4-73, 5-92, 6-175, 7-216, 8-222, 9-242.

Punjab bowling: Gagandeep 20-3-67-4, V.R.V. Singh 10.1-1-48-3, A. Uniyal 5-1-18-0, Sodhi 17-3-64-2, Navdeep 16-3-39-1, Sharma 1-0-1-0.

Punjab — 1st innings: R. Ricky (batting) 22, G. Gupta c Indulkar b Kulkarni 5, Yuvraj c & b Kulkarni 0, D. Mongia (batting) 13; Extras (nb-2) 2; Total: (for two wkts, 8 overs) 42.

Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-17.

Mumbai bowling: Agarkar 3-1-12-0, Salvi 6-3-14-0, Kulkarni 6-4-7-2, Powar 3-0-9-0.

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