da marjack bet： Punjab made a bad start, made a recovery of sorts through a fifth wicketpartnership of 52 runs and then slid again to be dismissed for 160 off 87.1overs at stumps on the opening day of their three day Vijay Merchant knockout tournament (under-16)
Staff Reporter09-Jan-2001Punjab made a bad start, made a recovery of sorts through a fifth wicketpartnership of 52 runs and then slid again to be dismissed for 160 off 87.1overs at stumps on the opening day of their three day Vijay Merchant knockout tournament (under-16) semifinal against Uttar Pradesh at the EdenGardens on Tuesday.Electing to bat, Punjab ran into trouble early. Openers Tavish Gupta (8)and Varun Gupta (7) fell with only 22 runs on the board. Worse was tofollow as Vishwas Bhalla (4) and Rahul Arora (10) fell to Praveen Gupta andPunjab were 61 for four.Vipul Sharma (49) and Gourav Gupta (51) added 52 runs for the fifth wicketoff 21.3 overs but just as Punjab were breathing a bit more freely, VipulSharma was leg before to Rahat Ilahi. He faced 142 balls and hit four ofthem to the ropes. Praveen Gupta and Rahat Iralhi then got among thewickets as Punjab lost their last six wickets for 47 runs off 24.4 overs.Ilahi took two for nine off nine overs while Praveen Gupta was thewrecker-in-chief taking five for 50 off 23.1 overs. The gallant GouravGupta was eighth out at 150. He faced 101 balls and hit four fours and asix. It now remains to be seen whether Punjab’s modest score can keep themin the fight.