Punjab sniff victory against Saurashtra

Young pacer Siddarth Kaul took four wickets as Punjab reduced Saurashtra to 212 for seven in their second innings to reach a commanding position in their Ranji Trophy Group A match, in Mohali, on Sunday.

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Punjab took a 115-run first innings lead by scoring 205 in reply to Saurashtra's 90 all out and then removed seven visiting batsmen.

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Saurashtra put up a much better show in their second essay but they have a just 97-run lead and three wickets in hand.

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Sagar Jogiyani was fighting hard for Saurashtra with an unbeaten 72 and giving him company was Jaydev Unadkat, who is yet to open his account.

Almost all Saurashtra batsmen got starts but could not convert those into big knocks. Losing wickets at regular intervals hurt them badly.

Kaul had both the openers -- Chirag Pathak (26) and Bhushan Chauhan (15) -- caught behind and later removed Shitanshu Kotal (18) and Ravindra Jadeja (nought) in space of three balls.

It left Saurashtra reeling 66 for four but Jogiyani kept one end tight. He got good support from Jaydev Shah (38) Arpit Vasavada (29).

Sandeep Sharma though removed both of them and also Maniar (0) to give Punjab side a good chance to win the contest.

Earlier, Punjab began the day at 125 for five and added 80 runs to the total for a handy 115-run lead.

Uday Kaul, who was overnight 4, remained unbeaten on 41.

Siddharth Trivedi completed a five-wicket haul for Saurashtra as he dismissed overnight batsman Bipul Sharma (19), Rahul Sharma (0) and Manpreet Gony (18).

Brief Scores:
Saurashtra: 90 and 212 for 7 in 55 overs. (S Jogiayni 72 batting; S Kaul 4/55).
Punjab 1st innings: 205 all out in 74.2 overs.(Jiwanjot Singh 62, U Kaul 41 not out; S Trivedi 5/64).