Haryana struggling to avoid follow-on

At draw of stumps on the third day Haryana were struggling to avoid the follow on against Punjab, having lost seven wickets for 247 in their North Zone Ranji Trophy league match at the Gandhi ground in Amritsar on Monday.

Haryana resumed their innings at the overnight score of 41 for 1. Padamjit Sehrawat got a life off the fourth ball of the day when he was on 20, dropped at second slip by Pankaj Dharmani off Reetinder Sodhi. After this both Paramjit and Ishan Ganda played sensibly and added 120 runs for the second wicket in 265 balls. The duo dominated the first session and were not separated until lunch, taking the team total to 137 for 1. Padamjit in particular was more aggressive as he completed his 50 in 106 balls with the help of six hits to the fence. Ganda supported him well by taking the singles and doubles.

In the second session Haryana added only 63 runs and lost two valuable wickets. Padamjit was the first to go in the fourth over after lunch, brilliantly caught by Dinesh Mongia at second slip off the bowling of Sodhi. He had scored 88 runs in 189 balls during a stay of 253 minutes at the crease with the help of 10 boundaries. Parinder Sharma was the next to depart at his individual score of 21 when he snicked a leg cutter from Harbhajan to wicket keeper Jugnu. Haryana was reeling at tea with the score reading 200 for 3.

The last session of the day belonged to the bowlers as they caputured four wickets in this session at the cost of 47 runs, Harbhajan taking three of them. He trapped Rajesh Puri (14) and Ajay Ratra (0) in front of the wickets with consecutive balls. Ganda played a laboured knock of 67 runs as he stayed for 300 minutes and faced 206 balls. His knock was studded with seven hits to fence. He was sent back to the pavilion by Gagandeep Singh after misjudging an incoming delivery which he left only to see it uproot his off stump. Sanjay Dalal was the last to depart as he edged an outgoing delivery from Bharat Bhushan into the safe hands of Mongia at second slip.

With one ball to spare the umpires called off play. Haryana still requires 89 runs to avoid the follow-on with three wickets in hand.