Punjab squander away a good start

In between early morning fog which delayed the start of play and bad light which ended play early, Punjab scored 191 for five off 61.5 overs in the 260 minutes possible on the opening day of the four day MA Chidambaram Trophy (under-19) match against Rest of India at the Dhruv Pandove stadium in Patiala on Friday. All the five wickets were taken by opening bowler Gagandeep Singh.

Punjab, who had emerged winners of the all India under-19 tournament last month at Jamshedpur, actually squandered away a good start. Openers Chetan Sharma (64) and D Mohan (95) put on 113 runs off 41.1 overs. Chetan who faced 131 balls, hit ten fours. Ratan Kumar (17) then helped Mohan to add 44 runs for the second wicket off 10 overs. But at 157, Gagandeep Singh dismissed Ratan Kumar and skipper R Gupta with successive deliveries. Mohan however seemed to be proceeding serenely towards his hundred but when five short of the mark he was adjudged leg before to Gagandeep Singh. Mohan faced 173 balls and hit 14 fours. He was fourth out at 185. With his next ball, Gagandeep Singh bowled AS Srivastava. At close, A Pandey (8) and US Karavadra (2) were at the crease. Gagandeep, used in short spells had taken five for 38 off 13.2 overs at the truncated end.