Ranji Trophy: Saurashtra sniff victory against Punjab

Mohali: Saurashtra enhanced their chances of an outright win as they reduced Punjab to 44 for four in the second innings after bundling out the hosts for 278 in the first essay in their Ranji Trophy Elite division match on Saturday.

In all, Saurashtra took 11 wickets on the penultimate day and need six more on the last day tomorrow at the PCA Stadium. Punjab, who lost four wickets in the second innings after following on, are still trailing by 220 runs and face a herculean task to bat through the day to save the match. Punjab, who resumed their first innings at 59 for three, were done in by some good pace and spin bowling by Saurashtra. Pacer Jaydev Unadkat (6/87) added three more wickets to his first day tally of three while spin all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja struck two blows to the hosts. Sandip Maniyar and Siddharth Trivedi accounted for one batsman each. Mandeep Singh was the top scorer for Punjab with his unbeaten 85 while Amitoze Singh (64) was the only other notable contributor in their first innings. The two batsmen added 121 runs for the seventh wicket but their effort was just not enough in reply to Saurashtra`s mammoth total of 542. Maniyar accounted for three Punjab batsman. Uday Kaul (11) and Mandeep (1) were at the crease when stumps were drawn for the day. Brief scores: Saurashtra 1st innings: 542 all out. Punjab: 278 and 44/4 in 21 overs (U Kaul 11; S Maniyar 3/14). PTI