New Delhi: Test star Harbhajan Singh turned out a scintillating all-round display to take Punjab past Maharashtra in their pre-quarterfinal match at Palam Ground, New Delhi on Monday. Fighting to regain his place in the Indian team, Punjab’s skipper Harbhajan Singh started the day with an economical spell of off spin (10-1-35-3) and followed it up with a sparkling unbeaten knock of 79 off 94 balls studded with seven boundaries and one six to take his team to a two wickets win over Maharashtra with 10 balls to spare.
Maharashtra winning the toss chose to bat and were soon rocked back when their opener C.J. Khurana was castled by Amitoze Singh for one and medium pacer M.S. Gony clean bowled R.H. Motwani before the batsman could open his account. Then H.H. Khadiwale (36) and A.R. Bawne (23) steadied the innings before Ravi Inder Singh and Chandan Madan combine effected the dismissal of A.R. Wawne through a run out. Right-arm leg spinner Rahul Sharma recently returned from the Australian Tour castled H.H. Khadiwale for 36 off 70 balls with three boundaries. Rahul Sharma struck again when he enticed N.S. Paradkar to come out of crease and had him stumped by wicket keeper Chandan Madan for 41 off 49 balls inclusive of four boundaries.
At this stage skipper Harbhajan Singh wove a web around the batsmen as he scalped three victims. He drew N.S. Paradkar out of his crease to be stumped by wicket-keeper Chandan Mandan for 42 off 47 balls with four boundaries and then clean bowled A.A. Darekar (4) and M.M. Sayed (0). S.H. Yadav remained unbeaten on 22 off 22 deliveries with three boundaries. The bowling honours for Punjab were shared by Harbhajan Singh 3 for 35, Rahul Sharma 2 for 45, Manpreet Gony 1 for 23 , Amitoze Singh 1 for 13 Bipul Sharma 1 for 36. Maharashtra innings ended at 186 for 9 in 50 overs.
Punjab started on a disastrous note as they lost their opener Chandan Madan, who was clean bowled by Anupam Sanklecha without disturbing the scorers. Ravi Inder Singh was the next to go when he was snapped by A.R. Bawne off M.M. Sayyd for 05. Maharashtra pace attack of Anupam Sanklecha and M.M Sayyd made early in roads into the Punjab batting line up as Gurkirat Singh Mann (8) and Amitoze Singh (6) were castled by M.M. Sayyd while Mandeep Singh was snapped by wicket keeper R.H. Motwani for three reducing Punjab to (35) for 5.
At this stage Taruwar Kohli and Bipul Sharma got together to steady the innings. Bipul Sharma was caught by S.H. Yadav off the bowling of C.G.Khurana for 34 off 33 balls with three boundaries. Punjab were 86 for 6 at this stage. Skipper Harbhajan Singh walked in when his team was in a precarious condition and in company of Taruwar Kohli started retrieving the lost ground. The duo took the total to 153 when Taruwar Kohli was run out by C.G. Khurana and Anupam Sanklecha combine for 46 off 77 balls studded with four boundaries. Rahul Sharma faced just one ball before being cleaned up by C.G. Khurana to reduce Punjab to 160 for 8 in 43 overs.
At this stage Manpreet Gony joined his skipper Harbhajan Singh who was batting with lot of confidence and was farming the bowlers and the duo saw their team go past the Maharashtra total of 186 in 48.2 overs. The winning hit coming on the second ball of C.G. Khurana’s 10th over which was hit for a magnificent six by Harbhajan Singh who in the process reached his highest score of the ongoing series (79 not out off 94 balls) inclusive of 7 boundaries and one six. The heroic efforts by the skipper saw his team home safe and dry.
Punjab will now take on Hyderabad in the quarterfinal at Palam on 7th March,2012.
Brief Scores:
Maharashtra: 186 for 9 in 50 overs (H.H. Khadiwale 36, A.R. Bawne 23, Kedar Jadhav 41, N.S. Paradkar 42, S.H. Yadav 22 not out, Harbhajan Singh 3 for 35,Manpreet Gony 1 for 23, Amitoze Singh 1 for 13, B.B. Sharma 1 for 36, R.P. Sharma 2 for 45).
Punjab: 192 for 8 in 48.2 overs (T.S. Kohli 46, B.B. Sharma 24, and Harbhajan Singh 79 not out. Anupan Sanklecha 2 for 21, M.M. Sayyd 3 for 41 and C.G. Khurana 2 for 40.
