da poker： Mohali: Fine medium fast bowling by Reetinder Sodhi (5 for 30) andSandeep Sharma (3 for 46) put Himachal Pradesh on back foot as theywere bundled out 46 minutes after tea for a paltry total of 129 runsin their first innings in reply to Punjab’s
Rajesh Arora26-Oct-1999Mohali: Fine medium fast bowling by Reetinder Sodhi (5 for 30) andSandeep Sharma (3 for 46) put Himachal Pradesh on back foot as theywere bundled out 46 minutes after tea for a paltry total of 129 runsin their first innings in reply to Punjab’s total of 354 on the secondday of the North Zone Ranji Trophy match here on Monday.Punjab started their first innings from the overnight total of 317 for8. Sarandeep Singh (57) was the first to depart in the seventh over ofthe day when he was bowled by Shakti Singh’s inswinger with the total330. He added 72 runs for ninth wicket with Navdeep Singh (36 notout). Shakti Singh finished with six wickets at a cost of 107 runs.This was tenth time he had claimed five or more wickets in an inningsin his 42nd match.The Himachal batsmen were never in the hunt to come anywhere near thePunjab total. The wickets fell at regular intervals. Most of thedamage was done by medium pacers Reetinder Sodhi (5 for 30) andSandeep Sharma (3 for 46). Navdeep Singh and Sandeep Sawal got awicket each.Yashwant Pal Singh(32), Nischal Gaur (29) and Jaswant Rai (20) showedsome resistance. Yashwant was impressive as he hit four boundrieswhile facing 102 balls.Punjab who got a 225 run first innings lead instead of enforcing thefollow on opted for some batting practice. They started their secondinnings on a disastrous note as Vikram Rathore and Navjot Sidhu, bothformer Indian opening batsmen threw their wickets cheaply. Rathore (3)was the first to depart in the second over while trying to pull ashort delivery of Parveen to caught at square-leg by Shakti Singh.Sidhu (2) was out in the same manner of the first innings when he wascaught by Sangram Singh off Shakti Singh. At close of play Punjab were38 for 2 with Dinesh Mongia (15) and Amit Sharma (12) at the crease.