The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Sohal and Raviinder punish Saurashtra

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Nov 17, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Sohal and Raviinder punish Saurashtra

Special Correspondent

Rajkot: Dapper Sunny Sohal (103, 161b, 15 x 4s) once again showed he has the skill far more than the ordinary, and Raviinder Singh (114, 209b, 22 x 4s), unceasing persistence, power and ability against Saurashtra on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Super League match at the Race Course Ground here on Sunday.

Contrast between the two was not only evident in Sohal being a right-hander and Raviinder Singh, a left-hander; the right-hander was fearless and took the attack to the rival camp after watching the opening pair put on 51 from the boundary line to get used to the light and Raviinder measured up to the task after Pankaj Dharmani elected to bat.

Punjab would be somewhat disappointed that the centurymakers did not expand their score after reaching the century mark, that Dharmani gifted his wicket and Uday Kaul was dismissed in the ninth ball of the second new ball, but could draw comfort from a total of 291 for five it mustered on the first day at Rajkot.

Dream run

Raised in Mohali, it has been a dream run for the 21-year-old Sohal who arrived here with 110 against Delhi and 106 against Rajasthan. He rattled the scoreboard in a matter of time after off-spinner Kamlesh Makwana sent back Ravneet Rickey in a most emphatic manner.

Forward and back play was possible to be executed with ease on a surface that did not show bias to the seamers and spinners. Both Sohal and Raviinder hit the ball hard and with safety.

Saurashtra suffered from want of quality seamers. Mere slanted deliveries from left-arm seamer Sandip Jobanputra and Jayesh Odedra, who does not have the ability to operate with the new ball, were driven off the front and back foot, cut and glanced and Punjab raced to 124 for one in the first two and half hour session after being at 39 from 17 overs at the first drinks break.

Immediate impact

Sohal made impact straightaway excelling in the lift-drive of Makwana, was on top of the ball to back cut several times and progressed to his half century of 62 balls with a copybook cover drive.

He spent almost an hour from 81 onwards before forcing Jadeja to forward of point to complete his third century in as many matches.

Jadeja, who impressed in his three for 49, effort, eventually saw Sohal direct the ball from the toe of the bat to Dhruv at slip.

The scores:

Punjab — 1st innings: R. Ricky b Makwana 17, Raviinder Singh lbw b Jadeja 114, S. Sohal c Dhruv b Jadeja 103, P. Dharmani c Kotak b Jadeja 25, U. Kaul c Jogiani by Makwana 16, T. Kohli (batting) 11; Extras (lb-4, nb-1) 5. Total (for five wkts. in 89.3 overs) 291.

Fall of wickets: 1-51, 2-216, 3-258, 4-274, 5-291.

Saurashtra bowling: Jobanputra 17-5-54-0, Odedra 25-5-66-0, Dhruv 17-3-55-0, Makwana 14.3 -3-63-2, Jadeja 15-5-49-3, Waghela 1-1-0-0.

Other scores: Super League (Day one): At Ahmedabad: Gujarat 235 for one (P.K. Panchal 48, Nilesh Modi 118 batting, Niraj Patel 60 batting) vs Hyderabad.

At Sambalpur: Orissa 235 for six (B.S. Patel 72, S.S. Das 74, H. Das 43 batting) vs Rajasthan.

At Mysore: Karnataka 277 for seven (R. Uthappa 133) vs Andhra.

Plate Division:

At Margoa: Goa 190 (S.B. Jakati 68, S.S. Bandekar 49, S.S. Rao five for 51) vs Jharkhand 77 for four.

At Palakkad: Kerala 214 for six (K.S.S. Sarma 103, J.T. Billa four for 39) vs Haryana.

At Kolkata: Services 107 (S.S. Sarkar five for 21) vs Bengal 109 for no loss (A.P. Majumdar 48 batting, R.B. Banerjee 42 batting).

At Agartala: Vidarbha 188 for six (R.S. Paradkar 56 batting, T.S. Saha five for 50) vs Tripura.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport