da bet7： Punjab overwhelmed Haryana by an innings and 152 runs on Thursday in theVijay Merchant Trophy (under-16) North Zone league match at the MaharajaStadium, Rohtak
Santhosh S14-Dec-2000Punjab overwhelmed Haryana by an innings and 152 runs on Thursday in theVijay Merchant Trophy (under-16) North Zone league match at the MaharajaStadium, Rohtak. Punjab captain Vishwas Bhalla led from the front and putthe match beyond Haryana with a swashbuckling innings of 250 as Punjabamassed 526/7 declared in their first innings.Winning the toss on Tuesday, Punjab elected to have a bat first and had abad start losing the first wicket in the second over in the form of VarunGupta for a duck. That brought Bhalla to the middle and he took the bowlersby the scruff of their neck and blasted a double century by the end of theday. He was involved in a 89-run partnership with Tavish Gupta (35) for thesecond wicket. R Arora made an explosive 91 in 122 balls which includednine fours and two sixes and helped Bhalla put on 161 for the third wicket.Bhalla’s hundred came in 153 balls including 13 fours. He went on to add 84runs for the fourth wicket with Gaurav Gupta (42 in 43 balls, 8 fours). Atthe end of the first day, Punjab were 451/5 with Bhalla on an imposing 204not out. On Wednesday, the Punjab score kept bulging as Bhalla went on tomake 250 before being dismissed. Bhalla’s heroics took him 398 minutes atthe crease as he faced 290 balls and smashing the ball to the fence 37times and hitting the ball over the fence twice. At the fall of his wicket,Bhalla declared the innings closed at 526/7 in 106.2 overs. It was abowling performance that the Haryana boys would like to forget in a hurry.Haryana started their batting with much hope but Punjab bowlers were justtoo good for them. They collapsed like a house of cards and came to an endat a pathetic 117 all out in 33.1 overs. On a day when the Punjab bowlersexcelled, Ankur was the best of them with the figures of 9.1-4-14-3. ForHaryana, wicketkeeper Sunil tried to put up some resistance with a bold 37in 43 balls. With a huge lead of 409 runs, Punjab asked Haryana to followon. Haryana got their act together in the second issue and started with anopening stand of 180. Openers Puneet Gupta and Kailash Shah were keen onputting up a fight, which they did. Gupta made 71 hitting 16 fours and Shahmade 95, also smashing 16 fours. Once the openers got out, Haryana losttheir way completely. As a matter of fact, all Haryana wickets fell forjust 73 runs. Tarun Kanish and Gaurav Gupta collected three wickets apieceas Ankur Jand and Gursharan picked two wickets each. Punjab took home alleight points on offer with their win and Haryana got none.