Punjab gain narrow first innings lead
Ludhiana: The final day of the North Zone Ranji Trophy league match between Delhi and Punjab here yesterday was dominated by batsmen as Virender Sehwag hammered 187 runs and Dinesh Mongia slammed an unbeatan ton at the Punjab Agricultural University
Rajesh Arora
17-Nov-1999
Ludhiana: The final day of the North Zone Ranji Trophy league match
between Delhi and Punjab here yesterday was dominated by batsmen as
Virender Sehwag hammered 187 runs and Dinesh Mongia slammed an
unbeatan ton at the Punjab Agricultural University Grounds here.
Luck did not favour the brave as Delhi fought to take the first
innings lead thanks to the heroic knock of 187 off 175 balls by
Sehwag. But they fell short by three runs. Punjab thus got five points
and Delhi three taking their points tally to 29 and 24 respectively.
The PAU ground witnessed a barrage of sixes from Sehwag, who was on 97
overnight. He attacked from the very beginning and there was no
stopping him. He hit 20 boundaries and nine sixes, six of them in this
morning. Harbhajan was hit for three sixes while Mongia and Navdeep
Singh were hit once each over the fence.
Sehwag's fifth century in the Championship was one of sheer
enterprise. He was eighth out caught at square leg by Sandeep Sharma
of Harbhajan Singh, who finished with five wickets for 156
runs. Navdeep Singh who took the last wicket took three for 120. Delhi
were finally all out for 527, about 50 minutes before lunch.
When Punjab batted a second time, Dinesh Mongia cracked a rapid fire
century in the second innings which came of 108 balls with the help of
13 hits to fance and three sixes. In the company of Yuvraj Singh added
77 runs for the third wicket.
Yuvraj Singh (60) was unlucky to be given leg before as he edged the
ball on to the pad. He played elegantly hitting seven boundaries
during his knock of 99 balls.
Harinder Singh got two wickets at the cost of 85 runs while Robin
Singh Jr, captured one wicket. Punjab in their second innings scored
227 runs for three wickets. When play was called off after eight
mandatary overs 349 runs had been scored today in 81 overs.