Punjab on brink of a victory

Gagandeep Singh and Navdeep Singh wrecked havoc as Punjab set themselves up for an outright win against Assam on the third day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match in Amritsar on Thursday.

The two bowlers shared 15 scalps between them as the visitors were first forced to follow on and were then tottering at 146 for seven in their second innings, still needing 63 runs to avoid an innings defeat.

Resuming their first innings at the overnight score of 113 for three, Assam lost wickets at regular intervals and were bundled out for 213 runs, a defecit of 209 runs.

Gagandeep snared six wicket for 41 runs while Navdeep chipped in with 4 for 39.

Only Sukhvinder Singh (59) and SV Saravanan (52) showed some resistance but failed to avoid the follow-on.

The hosts, who had scored 422 runs in their first innings, asked Assam to follow on and the visitors once again caved in to some disciplined bowling by the Punjab bowlers.

The trio of Gagandeep Singh (3/25), Rajesh Sharma (2/42) and Navdeep Singh (2/42) never allowed the Assam batsmen to occupy the crease for substantial time.

Only Saravanan with an unbeaten 63 defied the Punjab attack and his team would be hoping that he would continue from where he left today.

Scorecard

Punjab (1st innings): 422 

Assam (1st innings):
PK Das lbw b Gagandeep Singh 12
P Aziz b Gagandeep Singh 0
SZ Zuffri b Gagandeep Singh 52
SV Saravanan lbw b Navdeep Singh  49
RM Gohain lbw b Gagandeep Singh 0
R Sathish c Madan b Gagandeep Singh 0
S Ghosh c Gupta b Navdeep Singh 14
Sukhvinder Singh  not out  59
A Konwar lbw b Navdeep Singh 1
Javed Zaman lbw b Navdeep Singh 0
RK Yadav lbw b Gagandeep Singh 10

Extras: (b-5, lb-3, w-1, nb-7) 16

Total: (all out, 72.1 overs) 213

Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-14, 3-106, 4-115, 5-121, 6-132, 7-144, 8-155, 9-155.

Bowling: Gagandeep Singh 17.1-6-41-6, Sharma 19-6-45-0, Sodhi 11-1-40-0, Rajesh Sharma 12-1-40-0, Navdeep Singh 13-3-39-4.

Assam (2nd innings):
PK Das c & b Rajesh Sharma 25
P Aziz lbw b Gagandeep Singh 30
SZ Zuffri lbw b Rajesh Sharma 4
SV Saravanan batting 63
RM Gohain b Gagandeep Singh 1
R Sathish lbw b Gagandeep Singh 0
S Ghosh c Gupta b Navdeep Singh 0
Sukhvinder Singh c Gupta b Navdeep Singh 5
A Konwar batting 7

Extras: (b-5, lb-3, w-1, nb-2) 11

Total: (for 7 wkts, 59 overs) 146

Fall of wickets: 1-34, 2-42, 3-92, 4-94, 5-102, 6-105, 7-115.

Bowling: Gagandeep Singh 14-6-25-3, Sharma 5-1-17-0, Sodhi 3-0-12-0; Rajesh Sharma 15-4-42-2, Navdeep Singh 22-8-42-2