The possibility of an innings victory over Jammu and Kashmirwas converted into a reality by Haryana’s bowlers today

Staff Reporter03-Nov-2001*Haryana defeat J&K by an innings and 118 runsThe possibility of an innings victory over Jammu and Kashmirwas converted into a reality by Haryana’s bowlers today.After a dismal display last year Haryana came to life with arejuvenating outright trumph over Jammu and Kashmir in theopening encounter of the North Zone Ranji Trophy league at theMaharaja Aggarsain Stadium today. In the process they alsoavenged their defeat suffered at the hands of same opponentslast year at Jammu. On the third and penultimate day of thematch , Haryana registered a convincing victory over theirrivals with an innings margin.After facing the humiliation of follow-on, Jammu and Kashmirneeded another 282 runs to make Haryana bat again with ninewickets intact at draw of stumps yesterday. Today, Haryanabowlers spent a frustating first session as Jammu andKashmir’s overnight-unbeaten pair of batsmen ­ Raju Sharma (57in 227 minutes) and Kanwaljit Singh offered resistance andregistered hundred run partnership for the second wicket in144 minutes off 223 balls.The partnership was terminated when leg-spinner Amit Mishraprovided the much needed breakthrough, but not before the pairhad added 140 runs. Kanwal scored 71 runs in 206 minutes off174 balls. He hit twelve fours. His dismissal cleared thedecks for Haryana’s outright victory. Jammu and Kashmir lostthe remaining wickets in quick succession. It was young leftarm spinner S Vidyut who was playing his first match forHaryana after migrating from Tamil Nadu who did the damage.Vidyut struck in a big way and bagged 6 wickets afterconceding only 24 runs in 21 overs. The Jammu and Kashmirinnings folded at 179 to give Haryana a victory by innings.Haryana managed to garner as many as 8 points whereas Jammuand Kashmir got no points from the match.*Services Struggling at 297 for 9A stubborn 137 minute stay at the wicket by the eighth wicketpair helped Services reach 297 for the loss of nine wicketsbut the visitors were still 21 short of saving the follow-onat the end of third day’s play against Delhi in the North ZoneRanji Trophy tie here today.Coming together in the 51st over of the day with Servicesstruggling at 210 for 7 after Delhi left-arm spinner RahulSanghvi ran through the middle order claiming four quickwickets, a determined CD Thompson and JP Pandey thwarted therival attack for 34 overs frustrating Delhi’s attempts to wrapup the tail and enforce a follow-on today itself.Earlier, resuming at their overnight score of 62 for two,services continued their save-the-match tactics with overnightbatsmen cautiously defending for 22 overs before Delhi struckremoving Yahspal Singh (69), who while trying to sweep, edgedto keeper Pradeep Chawla off Rahul Sanghvi.Sanghvi struck again four overs later removing PMS Reddy (34,3×4), effecting a brilliant caught-and-bowled.Just when Services seemed to fold up meekly, skipper SanjayVerma played a blistering innings, which included tenboundaries. when the team seemed to claw their way back intothe game, Sanghvi came back with more venom and sent Vermaback.Verma (53) skied a Sanghvi full toss towards the mid-wicketand Sarandeep Singh committed no mistake.Four overs later, off-spinner Sarandeep produced a beauty andChawla latched on to a top edge flying out of new manSarabjeet Singh’s bat.The Sanghvi-Chawla duo continued working wonders for Delhi andthis time Sayed Javed perished to their designs for a duckgiving Chawla his fourth catch of the match.Delhi then prepared for the kill, bringing on seamers Bandhariand Arun Singh to finish off the tail. But the Thompson-Pandey partnership proved too stubborn.With his arsenal exhausted, Manhas brought himself on andeffected a turn-around six overs before close of playdismissing Pandey, who seemed to have lost concentration andended up snicking to Akash Chopra at first slip.He also worked a miracle with the last ball of the daydismissing Arun Sharma who hit a rash shot towards fine legwhere RS Gupta gleefully grabbed it.Delhi would have loved to garner full eight points with anoutright victory after dominating with a huge first inningsscore. For that to happen, they will have to grab 11 servicewickets on the last day tomorrow.On a dead Palam pitch, it is indeed an uphill task.*Himachal on verge of an innings defeatExcellent bowling performance from Punjab forced HimachalPardesh to follow-on and they are again five down for 216 runsin 2nd innings in the North Zone Ranji Trophy league cricketmatch being played at PCA Stadium, Mohali.Himachal Pradesh resumed their overnight innings from 147 for5 with not out batsman Sangram Singh and Sandeep Sharma. Bothplayed with great courage and showed some resistance against adisciplined attack. Sangram Singh completed his half centuryin 81 balls with the help of 8 fours. Trying to pull a shortpitched rising delivery on leg stump from Amit Uniyal, hesnicked the ball for keeper Dharmani, who took the catch andUniyal gave a vital breakthrough to his team. The duo added49 runs for the sixth wicket partnership.After the departure of Sangram Singh tailenders could not staylonger and for the addition of only 17 runs they lost anotherfour wickets. Debutant Amit Uniyal took three wickets for 33runs while Vineet Sharma and Babloo Kumar also accounted forthree wickets each after giving away 83 and 12 runsrespectively.Forced to follow-on, Himachal started their 2nd innings on asound note as Nischal Gaur (51) and Raza Ali (14) added 46runs for the first wicket. Raza Ali was brilliantly caught atthird slip by Dinesh Mongia who took a single handed highcatch to his left off the bowling of Vineet Sharma. Nayyar (5)joined Gaur but with the addition of 8 runs to the total hewas trapped in front of wicket by Sandeep Sawal.Sangram Singh and Nischal Gaur played cautiously and kept thescoreboard moving. Gaur completed his half century in 100balls with the help of 5 hits to the fence. Amit Uniyal gaveanother jolt to Himachal team as he clean bowled Sangram Singh(13) with a yorker. The scoreboard was showing 91 runs forthree wickets. With the addition of just two runs to the totalNischal Gaur lost his patience and was trapped in front ofwicket by left arm spinner Babloo Kumar.Here comes the brightest part of the innings when SandeepSharma joined skipper Virender Sharma. Both playedaggressively and added 50 runs in just 62 balls. Virender wasmost instrumental in scoring runs at a quick pace. Virendercompleted his fifty with a cheeky single to point off SandeepSawal. He took 75 balls to complete his half-century whichwas studded with 7 boundaries and a huge six. The duocompleted the 100-run partnership in 144 balls for the fifthwicket, which is a record for the fifth wicket against anyteam in this version of game.Sandeep Sharma who was shaping well for a big score playedearly to a slower delivery from Anit Uniyal and gave a simplecatch to Dinesh Mongia at mid-off. Sandeep scored 44 runs in76 balls with 7 hits to fence. The duo added valuable 117runs for their team and give them some stability and respect.At the draw of stumps on day three Virender Sharma wasbatting on 61 while Paras Dogra had 5 to his name.Himachal still requires 113 runs to avoid inningsdefeat with five wickets in hand. Amit Uniyalcaptured two wickets at the cost of 51 runs, whileBabloo Kumar, Sandeep Sawal and Vineet Sharma snared awicket each.*Madhya Pradesh bowl Vidarbha out on Day OneThe Vidarbha C.A. ground in Nagpur, the venue for the Ranji Trophy tiebetween the home side and Madhya Pradesh, saw Vidarbha bowled out for295 and the visitors make 9 for no loss by the close of play.Vidarbha, winning the toss, opted to bat; partnerships, however, werehard to come by, as all the batsmen made a start but could not convertit into significant knocks. The openers were dismissed with 45 on theboard, and wickets fell at regular intervals after that.The only sizeable contribution came from Samir Khare, who made 70 andwas the last man to fall for Vidarbha. Batting first with Alind Naidu(66) and then largely with the tail, Khare made his runs off 110balls, hitting seven fours and two sixes in the process.Vidarbha reached their total of 295 in 83.3 overs, leaving time forfour overs to be bowled in Madhya Pradesh’s batting effort. The MadhyaPradesh openers saw their side safely through to stumps without losingany wickets.