da 888： An inspirational hundred by Pankaj Dharmani, at a time when Punjabappeared out for the count, put the game back on an even keel butRailways regained their advantage at the end of the day through ablistering counterattack
Bulletin by Siddhartha Vaidyanathan in Mohali01-Apr-2005Railways 355 and 123 for 2 (JP Yadav 64*) trail Punjab309 (Dharmani 115, JP Yadav 5-83) by 169 runs
Scorecard
How they were outAn inspirational hundred by Pankaj Dharmani, at a time when Punjabappeared out for the count, put the game back on an even keel butRailways regained their advantage at the end of the day through ablistering counterattack. In a magnificent display of risk management,Dharmani shepherded the tail to near-perfection, eked out runs throughdeft angles and whittled away the deficit to only 46. But Jai PrakashYadav, who shone with the ball earlier in the day, pounded athrill-a-minute 64, with seven fours and two sixes, and helped Railwaysregain their grasp.With Yadav, nobody knows what to expect and though nowhere in the sameclass, he is Railways’ own version of Keith Miller in physical form at least: shoulder-length hair,french breard, dazzling tattoo on his right arm, running in from fivesteps and digging in a bouncer, steaming in from 15 steps and floating aslower ball and batting with carefree abandon. If his dogged effort in thefirst-innings neutralised Punjab’s advantage at the toss, his attackingburst today partly nullified their lower-order resistance. Walking in at31 for 2 with Punjab’s bowlers tightening the noose he punched, sliced andblasted through the tension within a span of half an hour. Speed was metwith power, spin with dynamite and the rest with cheeky pushes, fineglides and rustic swats. Sanjay Bangar was almost invisible at the otherend and Punjab walked off the field yet again wondering how fightbackafter fightback was continuously thwarted.Dharmani, though, had engineered a great turnaround and just like he haddone in the semi-finals at Mumbai defied determined bowlers and massiveodds as Punjab wriggled out of a perilous position. Yadav’s two quickwickets at the start of the day – Muneesh Sharma beaten by an indipper andSandeep Sawal nicking to the wicketkeeper – had put Railways withintouching distance of the title, 181 runs ahead and one end opened up. Butthe two Singhs – Gagandeep and VRV – showed tremendous gumption whileinterspersing dead-bat defence with dead-straight pushes and helpedDharmani prosper at the other end.It was the Dharmani-Gagandeep firm that had inched Punjab past Mumbai’sdaunting target two weeks back and both made sure they didn’t withdrawinto a shell. Though the scoring-rate dipped, they were always on thelook-out for run-scoring opportunities and Dharmani placed tremendousfaith in Gagandeep’s, as well as the rest’s, batting ability. Railways’bowling gradually lost its venom and barring Yadav’s unpredictableall-sorts the batsmen were rarely hassled. Gagandeep’s wicket soon afterlunch, bowled by Yadav’s deceptive faster pace, triggered a mini-collapsebut VRV Singh surprised everyone with his stubborn ways.At the other end Dharmani picked the right deliveries to get after thespinners and inched towards his 18th Ranji hundred with some cannyrotation of strike. He brought up the landmark with a gorgeous straightdrive and maintained his follow-through position for close to ten seconds.He probably thought of the Ranji final in 1993, his debut game, whenPunjab triumphed for the first and only time in the tournament. Heprobably felt that Punjab had done enough to aim for one more. If he did,he probably didn’t take into consideration a maverick called Jai PrakashYadav.How they were outPunjabMuneesh lbw b JP Yadav 18 (174 for 5) Beaten by an indipperas he was rooted to the crease.Sawal c Wankhede b JP Yadav 0 (174 for 6) Driving at oneoutside off stump and nicked a simple catchGagandeep b JP Yadav 17 (242 for 7) Missed one that came inafter pitching.Vineet c Madan b JP Yadav 10 (258 for 8) Attempted to loftone over mid-on managed only elevation and no distance.Rajesh b Harvinder 0 (258 for 9)</b. Beaten for pace and failedto come down on a straight one.Dharmani b JP Yadav (309 all out) Under-edged on to hisstumps while trying to pull a short ball.RailwaysAmit Pagnis lbw b Gagandeep 0 (0 for 1) Beaten by the lateinswing and was declared out for a golden duck.Khanolkar run out (Ricky) 3 (31 for 2) Involved in amisunderstanding with Bangar and was beaten by Ricky’s direct hit at thenon-striker’s end.