Haryana survives a scare against Punjab, match ends in draw

By virtue of their first innings lead, Punjab pocketed three crucial points but still remained at the fifth place in the Group B points table behind Haryana.

Rajwinder took the wickets of R Dewan (37), Hemang Badani (47), Sachin Rana (36) and Joginder Sharma (29) to ignite hopes of a win but Haryana managed to cling on to deny them an outright victory.

Earlier, resuming at 144/3, Punjab declared their second innings at 232/6, setting a victory target of 378 at the Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium here.

Punjab overnight batsmen Mandeep Singh (84) and Uday Kaul (80 not out) started off well but pacer Dhruv Singh produced a brilliant spell to dismiss the former in the 51st over, before removing Jaskaran Singh (2) and MS Gony (10).

Kaul, however, was a pillar of strength at the other end. The 23-year-old blasted seven fours in his innings as Punjab declared their second innings at 232 for six in 60 overs.

Needing 378 to win, Haryana had a disastrous start as they lost opener Nitin Saina (0) in the third ball when he was cleaned up by Gony.

Gony also dismissed Sunny Singh in the seventh over, while Bharat Loomba removed A Rawat (13) to reduce Haryana to 36 for three in 11.4 overs.

Dewan and Badani tried to stem the rot with a 80-run fourth wicket partnership but once they were gone, the scare of a defeat loomed larged over Haryana.

Rana (36) then came up with a 48-run stand with Pardeep Sahu to help Haryana survive the scare as the match ended in a draw.

Brief Scores:

Punjab: 415 and 232/6 declared (Mandeep Singh 84, Uday Kaul 80 not out; Dhruv Singh 3/51).

Haryana: 270 and 220/8 in 74 overs (H Badani 47; Rajwinder Singh 4/60).