The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Pankaj Dharmani keeps Punjab's hopes alive

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Friday, Jan 12, 2007
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Pankaj Dharmani keeps Punjab's hopes alive

Principal Correspondent

Hyderabad gains a first innings lead of 109 runs

GOOD GOING: Hyderabad's M.P. Arjun (centre) is congratulated after dismissing Punjab's Dinesh Mongia. — Photo: Mohammed Yousuf

HYDERABAD: Pankaj Dharmani played a captain's innings to keep Punjab's hopes alive against Hyderabad on the second day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Super League Group `B' match at Visaka Ground (Rajiv Gandhi Stadium) here on Thursday.

After conceding a lead of 109 runs, Punjab at one stage was tottering at 41 for four in 12th over. At that point the threat of an innings defeat loomed large as medium-pacer Alfred Absolom struck telling blows while M.P. Arjun made amends for his dismal show in the first innings with a hostile and accurate spell to pick up two wickets.

However, as the day progressed, the Hyderabad camp ran into a stubborn Dhramani (70 batting, 122 balls, 10x4) who put on a vital, unbroken, 71-run sixth-wicket stand with wicketkeeper-batsman Uday Kaul (28 batting). That was the phase when Kaushik Reddy was expected to sustain the pressure on the batsmen but Kaushik disappointed again. So was the case with left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha.

Dharmani grew in confidence as the innings progressed, essaying some pleasing strokes on either side of the wicket. On one occasion Uday was trapped plumb in front by Absolom but off a no-ball.

He also survived a close call when V.V.S. Laxman was slow to react at slip when the batsman edged Ojha in his forward defensive push.

By evening, the official scorer Thomas Blessington made it clear that Hyderabad not only needed an outright win but also the bonus point to pip Mumbai for a berth in the semifinals, in case both teams have the same number of points.

And the way Dharmani weathered the storm with the desired technical competence, Hyderabad bowlers are likely to have their task cut out on the morrow.

Earlier, captain Laxman (76, 171 b, 9x4) was the only one apart from Ibrahim Khaleel (39 not out, 111 b, 2x4) to have looked good against the Punjab attack. However this was not one of those fluent knocks from the India star.

It was another unlucky day for Harbhajan Singh as Uday made a mess of a simple stumping chance when Khaleel tried to play on the on-side with the score reading 224 for seven.

Love Ablish got rid of the Hyderabad captain who snicked an away swinger to the wicketkeeper after taking a hard blow on the body off the previous ball.

And V.R.V. Singh struck two late blows to restrict Hyderabad to 251.

The scores:

Punjab — 1st innings: 142.

Hyderabad — 1st innings: T. Suman lbw b Gagandeep 4, P. Sashank c Harbhajan b Gangadeep 8, A. Singh c Dharmani b Sodhi 33, V.V.S. Laxman c Uday b Ablish 76, A. Yadav c Uday b V.R.V. Singh 40, Vinay b V.R.V. Singh 4, I. Khaleel (not out) 39, Kaushik c Uday b Ablish 5, A. Absolom cMongia b Harbhajan 0, M.P. Arjun b V.R.V. Singh 3, P. Ojha c Harbhajan b V.R.V. Singh 0;

Extras: (b-8, lb-6, w-1, nb-24) 39; Total: (in 82 overs) 251.

Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-21, 3-60, 4-146, 5-159, 6-207, 7-220, 8-240, 9-245.

Punjab bowling: Gagandeep 19-4-53-2, Ablish 20-7-36-2, V.R.V. Singh 22-3-79-4, Harbhajan 16-0-59-1, Sodhi 4-0-8-1, Mongia 1-0-2-0.

Punjab — 2nd innings: R. Ricky c Khaleel b M.P. Arjun 0, K. Goel c Vinay b Absolom 4, D. Mongia c Suman b M.P. Arjun 8, P. Dharmani (batting) 70, G. Gupta b Absolom 6, R.S. Sodhi c Khaleel b Absolom 11, Uday (batting) 28; Extras: (b-1, lb-4, nb-13) 18; Total: (for five wkts. in 41 overs) 145.

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-10, 3-30, 4-41, 5-74.

Hyderabad bowling: Absolom 11-0-55-3, M.P. Arjun 14-3-27-2, Kaushik 8-0-34-0, Ojha 8-0-24-0.

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