Harvinder helps Railways keep Punjab in check

By Our Special Correspondent

MOHALI, APRIL 5: Harvinder Singh showed no mercy for his former teammates from Punjab. Bowling like a man possessed, the Amritsar lad scalped four wickets and ensured that Railways gained more on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy semifinal here on Thursday.

After a long day, when play lasted 414 minutes, Punjab struggled all the way to reach 247 for eight. Reeling at 159 for six at one stage, the host recovered somewhat through left-hander Ankur Kakkar who displayed monumental patience in notching his career- best 53. But most of his teammates, including skipper Vikram Rathour and Ravneet Ricky, were guilty of throwing it away in spite of spending a fair amount of time in the middle.

Harvinder, who served Punjab for four years before joining the Railways last season, made the most of the familiar surface at the PCA Stadium. He did bowl his heart out and was rewarded for his intelligence, too. Usually, the sight of a `green' wicket makes many medium-pacers try too much, too soon, in order to get instant results. But Harvinder, unlike his new- ball partner Zakir Hussain, bowled a disciplined line, kept a good length and forced the batsmen play and err.

Harvinder collected his wickets in a variety of ways. If opener Munish Sharma nicked the day's third ball to third slip, fellow- opener Ricky offered a comfortable return catch. Debutant Sanjay Mahajan was caught behind before Kakkar's 265- minute vigil ended with Harvinder trapping him leg-before with the second new ball late in the day.

The pair of Rathour and Ricky did put on 76 runs for the second wicket and provided the brightest phase of the Punjab innings. Ricky, after surviving being run-out when on one, played some delightful drives but eventually ended up playing right into the hands of Harvinder.

After lunch, Rathour carried on in his usual, composed manner but did not last long. Looking to make the most of the vacant mid- wicket region, Rathour gave a regulation catch to wicketkeeper Abhay Sharma off medium pacer Sanjay Bangar. Even as Kakkar dropped anchor, Pankaj Dharmani and later Reetinder Sodhi tried to take up the mantle of scoring but perished to Kulamani Parida. Dharmani tried to hoist the off- spinner and missed the line.

Sodhi played back and was bowled off the inside-edge. Despite getting little support from the pitch, Parida was impressive during his one long spell of 25 overs. In the final session, after Harvinder sent back Mahajan, left-arm spinner Tejinder Pal Singh bowled Sandeep Sawal to end a fighting 61-run stand for the seventh wicket. It was indeed surprising to note that Tejinder was made to bowl just six overs in two spells.

The scores:

Punjab - 1st innings: Munish Sharma c Goud b Harvinder 0, Ravneet Ricky c and b Harvinder 33, Vikram Rathour c Abhay Sharma b Bangar 44, Ankur Kakkar lbw b Harvinder 53, Pankaj Dharmani b Parida 18, Reetinder Singh Sodhi b Parida 15, Sanjay Mahajan c Abhay b Harvinder 12, Sandeep Sawal b Tejinder 28, Gagandeep Singh (batting) 16, Vineet Kumar (batting) 0, Extras (b-5, lb-9, nb-11, w-3) 28, Total (for eight wickets) 247.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-76, 3-91, 4-114, 5-130, 6-159, 7-220, 8- 247.

Railways bowling: Harvinder Singh 20-5- 64-4, Zakir Hussain 19-6- 38-0, Sanjay Bangar 15-2-57-1, Tejinder Pal Singh 6-0-15-1, Kulamani Parida 25-8-49-2, Shreyas Khanolkar 5-3-10-0.

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