JOIN USPunjab rode on Bipul Sharma’s all-round effort and opener Chandan Madan’s 79 to sail into the semifinal of the Vijay Hazare one-day tournament with a five-wicket victory over Hyderabad here on Wednesday.
After his figures of four for 31 helped Punjab bundle out Hyderabad for a meagre 175 at the Palam A Ground, Bipul (41, 48b, 3x6, 3x4) played able foil to wicketkeeper-batsman Chandan as his team chased the target with 53 balls to spare. Punjab will take on Bengal in the last four.
Leg-spinner Rahul Sharma too shone as he finished with an impressive haul of three for 40.
Madan and Bipul showed composure on a difficult pitch to bat on as Punjab bounced back after losing their top five batsmen for 88 runs. Chandan, who found the fence 10 times during his 120-ball knock, anchored one end, giving the left-handed Bipul the liberty to free his arms, which resulted in three clean sixes, as the duo put on 91.
Earlier, electing to bat, Hyderabad lost wickets at regular intervals to be bowled out cheaply. Ibrahim Khaleel top-scored with 46 off 51 balls, the wicketkeeper hitting six boundaries during his stay at the wicket.
Score Board
HYDERABAD: T Suman st Madan b Rahul 34, DB Ravi Teja c Madan b Gony 7, Akshath Reddy c Amitoze b Bipul 37, Hanuman Vihari lbw Bipul 21, Ibrahim Khaleel st Madan b Harbhajan 46, Syed Ahmed Quadri c & b Bipul 0, Ashish Reddy c Kohli b Bipul 7, Paramveer Singh lbw Rahul 5, Pragyan Ojha lbw Rahul 1, Anwar Ahmed c Mandeep b Rajwinder 4, M Ravi Kiran (not out) 5. Extras (LB-1, W-7) 8. Total (all out, 49.2 overs) 175.
Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-79, 3-97, 4-121, 5-121, 6-133, 7-138, 8-140, 9-167.
Bowling: Manpreet Singh Gony 7-3-21-1, Amitoze Singh 6-1-21-0, Bipul Sharma 10-1-31-4, Rahul Sharma 10-0-40-3, Rajwinder Singh 8.2-0-21-1, Harbhajan Singh 8-2-40-1.
PUNJAB: Manish Bhatia b Anwar 1, Chandan Madan (not out) 78, Gurkeerat Singh c Khaleel b Anwar 8, Mandeep Singh c Khaleel b Ashish 4, Taruwar Kohli lbw Paramveer 12, Amitoze Singh c Vihari b Teja 16, Bipul Sharma (not out) 41. Extras (B-1, LB-2, W-16) 19. Total (for 5 wkts, 41.1 overs) 179.
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-19, 3-28, 4-53, 5-88.
Bowling: Anwar Ahmed 4-0-19-2, M Ravi Kiran 4-0-26-0, Ashish Reddy 4-1-8-1, Pragyan Ojha 9.1-1-33-0, DB Ravi Teja 8-0-34-1, Paramveer Singh 7-1-32-1, Syed Ahmed Quadri 2-0-7-0, T Suman 2-0-10-0, Hanuman Vihari 1-0-7-0.