Ricky, Mahajan shape Punjab's three wicket win
A 112-run sixth wicket partnership between Ravneet Ricky and S Mahajan helped Punjab defeat Delhi by three wickets in the North Zone Ranji Trophy Oneday Tournament at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground in Delhi on Thursday
Natarajan Sriram
22-Jul-2009
A 112-run sixth wicket partnership between Ravneet
Ricky and S Mahajan helped Punjab defeat Delhi by
three wickets in the North Zone Ranji Trophy Oneday Tournament at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground in
Delhi on Thursday.
Needing to score 247 for a win, Punjab were pegged
on the back foot when they lost opener Sandeep
Singh (4) off the third ball of the innings.
Sandeep was caught by Ashu Dani off Aashish Nehra.
But Ricky and Vikram Rathour (38) added 48 runs
for the second wicket before Rathour fell for a
catch by Rahul Sanghvi off Suman. Stumper Pankaj
Dharmani lasted just seven balls before offering a
catch to Virendra Shewag off Suman. A Kakkar too
was out quickly.
At 82 for 5, Punjab were in a precarious position.
But both Ricky and Mahajan responded to the call
and forged their retreiving stand which lasted
21.4 overs. Ricky finally departed, caught by Dani
off Sanghvi for 67 off 120 balls inclusive of two
fours and a six. Then Harbhajan Singh (26), who
seems to fancy himself with the bat these days and
Mahajan took the score to 240. With only seven
more runs required for a win, Harbhajan departed
giving a return catch to Shewag. Then Sharandeep
Singh helped Mahajan to finsh the formalities.
Mahajan remained unbeaten with 77 off 89 balls. He
hit four boundaries and a six.
Earlier, Delhi put up 246 on the board thanks to
valuable knocks by Gautam Gambhir (53) and
stumper P Chawla (59). The Delhi top order chipped
in with useful contributions.