Punjab rout Services by an innings

Mohali: Hosts Punjab routed Services by an innings and 173 runs on the final day in their North Zone Ranji Trophy league match at the Punjab Cricket Association stadium here today.

Services, resuming at their overnight score of 112 for five were all out for the addition of 77 runs, 23 minutes before lunch. Overnight batsman Pankaj Maitrey (1) was the first to depart as he nicked an outswinger from Reetinder Sodhi to Pankaj Dharmani at 119. Ghan Sham Thapa then joined his skipper Sanjay Verma and the two added 54 runs for the seventh wicket in 85 minutes. Sanjay Verma (67) was playing with grace and he struck six boundaries. He faced 199 balls during his stay of 237 minutes at the crease. He was dismissed by a magnificant return catch by Navdeep Singh at 173. After his departure, the remaining three batsmen M.V.Rao (0), Syed Javed (6) and Sachin Kulkarni (7) were dismissed with the addition of only 16 runs to the total.

Sarandeep Singh who took six wickets in the first innings, captured four wickets in the second innings taking his match tally to ten for 91. Sandeep Sawal and Reetinder Sodhi bagged two wickets each giving away 19 and 18 runs respectively.

With this win, Punjab collected 16 points from two matches while Services have not got any point so far.