Ranji: Jackson's ton helps Saurashtra post 477 vs Punjab

Sheldon Jackson scored a sparkling century to enable Saurashtra post 477 in their first innings against Punjab on the second day of the Ranji Trophy semi-final, in Rajkot, on Thursday. 

In reply, Punjab, after a steady start, were 41 for no loss at stumps, with Jiwanjot Singh unbeaten on 11 and Ravi Inder Singh on 30. 

Earlier, resuming at the overnight score of 274 for 5, Saurashtra added another 203 runs before being dismissed.

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Wednesday's unbeaten pair of Jackson and Kamlesh Makwana, resuming on 70 and 13 respectively, got the team off to a good start on Day 2.

Their sixth-wicket stand yielded 106 runs before Siddharth Kaul dismissed Jackson for a 172-ball 107, studded with 16 boundaries and a six. 

This was Jackson's third century of the season. 

The departure of Jackson brought Vishal Joshi to the crease; he and Makwana frustrated the visiting team's bowlers as they added 91 runs for the seventh wicket. 

Leg spinner Sarabjit Ladda provided the breakthrough by getting rid of Makwana. He then accounted for two more wickets, those of Jaydev Unadkat (9) and Dharmendra Jadeja (17), to push Saurashtra on the backfoot. 

Makwana's patient 85 came off 216 balls and was laced with 12 hits to the fence.

Joshi was stranded on 55 when veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh dismissed last-man Siddharth Trivedi, who failed to open his account after facing seven balls. 

For Punjab, Kaul and Ladda were the pick of the bowlers, taking three wickets each, conceding 119 and 109 runs respectively. 

Harbhajan took two wickets for 102 runs.

Punjab openers Ravi and Jiwanjot did well to survive the day.

While Jiwanjot got a life when a bat-pad catch was put down by Jackson at silly point off Makwana, while Ravi, who played watchfully, hit some big shots when spinner Dharmendra Jadeja was brought into the attack.

Brief scores:

Saurashtra: 477 all out in 155 overs (Sheldon Jackson 107, Jaydev Shah 87, Kamlesh Makwana 85, Vishal Joshi not out 55; Sarabjit Ladda 3-109, Siddharth Kaul 3-119, Harbhajan Singh 2-102).

Punjab: 41 without loss in 17 overs (Ravi Inder Singh batting 30, Jiwanjot Singh batting 11).