Harbhajan enlivens proceedings

By Our Sports Reporter

CHENNAI, APRIL 1. Harbhajan Singh brought Punjab back into the contest, living up to the trust his captain had placed in him. On the eve of the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals, Vikram Rathour had said he banked on the Test off-spinner to exploit the bounce and turn the pitch was likely to offer.

And the lanky Sardar obliged his captain at the Chidambaram Stadium here on Saturday, the third day of the five- day encounter against Tamil Nadu, putting the skids on the host's aspirations, turning in a five-wicket haul.

It was expected that Tamil Nadu would consolidate on its overnight lead of 88 runs, but the host crumbled like a cookie, and had it not been for the last wicket stand of 47 between Reuben Paul and Gokulakrishnan Tamil Nadu would not have achieved the 203 runs lead which it eventually did.

Punjab wiped out 127 of the deficit by close with eight wickets in hand. One thing appeared clear during the 126- run opening wicket stand between Reetinder Singh Sodhi (89, 145b, 217m, 10x4) and Vikram Rathour (batting 37, 103b, 225m, 4x4), that the host's spinners were not capable of exploiting the conditions in the manner Harbhajan had done.

Close to 18 overs were lost to a combination of early morning showers, which robbed an hour and 15 minutes, and a rain intervention, which an extension of play till two minutes to six could not compensate.

Harbhajan, who dismissed Sharath late last evening, opened the bowling today. In a spell of 13 overs, positive in approach and attacking in field placements while mixing his arm ball magnificently, he took four wickets, claiming overnight century maker Sriram and Mahesh of consecutive deliveries - the former was held at point playing a cut, and the latter yorked with a faster delivery. Kumaran was his first victim of the day and he finished with Rajat Bhatia before leaving the field with a niggle in the back.

The last wicket stand between Paul and Gokulakrishnan was crucial. For one, it took the lead past the 200-run mark which by itself gives a psychological edge while the two, batting with equal ease, held fort for close to an hour, the time factor being as crucial in this encounter.

Sodhi and Rathour batted positively. Ruffled at the start by the three-quarter length deliveries from mediumpacers Kumaran and Mahesh, Sodhi slowly but surely gained control of the situation. Ramesh at gully dropped him off the bowling of Mahesh when on one. Sodhi had another reprieve when Mahesh at cover failed to latch on to his drive off mediumpacer Rajat Bhatia. He was on 34 then. Otherwise, it was an innings in which he called the shots, driving and flicking the seamers and off-spinner Kapoor with authority.

Sodhi was out under fading light, caught behind while driving Mahesh away from his body. This was some time after the Tamil Nadu camp had complained to the umpires that the two batsmen were running on the wicket.

Mahesh from square-leg ran out Jugnu with a superb direct hit at the bowler's end before play was called off owing to bad light.

Punjab will look up to its skipper to lead the way. The first hour on Day Four will be crucial.

The scores:

Punjab - 1st innings: 258.

Tamil Nadu - 1st innings: S. Sriram c Dinesh Mongia b Harbhajan Singh 165, S. Ramesh c Jugnu b R.P. Singh 18, Hemang K. Badani c Rathour b Sarandeep Singh 70, J.R. Madanagopal c Rathour b Yuveraj Singh 35, S. Sharath c Rathour b Harbhajan Singh 33, Aashish Kapoor (run out) 5, T. Kumaran c Sandeep Sharma b Harbhajan Singh 23, Rajat Bhatia c Rathour b Harbhajan Singh 24, S. Mahesh b Harbhajan Singh 0, Reuben Paul b Sandeep Sharma 32, D.J. Gokulakrishnan (not out) 21. Extras (b- 11, lb-3, w-1, nb- 20) 35. Total (in 128.1 overs): 461.

Fall of wickets: 1-47, 2-197, 3-251, 4- 330, 5-338, 6-368, 7-387, 8-387, 9-414.

Punjab bowling: Sandeep Sharma 24.1-1-93-1, R.P. Singh 23-1-81-1, Harbhajan Singh 37.4-9-106-5, R.S. Sodhi 16-1-80-0, Sarandeep Singh 21.2-5-58-1, Yuveraj Singh 4-0-24-1, Dinesh Mongia 2-0-5-0.

Punjab - 2nd innings: Vikram Rathour (batting) 37, Reetinder Singh Sodhi c Reuben Paul b Mahesh 89, Harminder Jugnu (run out) 0, Pankaj Dharmani (batting) 0. Extras (nb-1) 1. Total (for two wkts., 41.2 overs) 127.

Fall of wickets: 1-126, 2-127.

Tamil Nadu bowling: T. Kumaran 9-1-36-0, S. Mahesh 7-0-19-1, D.J. Gokulakrishnan 6-2-13-0, Aashish Kapoor 10-3-32-0, Rajat Bhatia 4-0-14-0, S. Sriram 5.2-0-13-0.

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