Chandigarh, December 16
A magnificent ton by Gaurav Puri helped the UT team settle for a draw against Punjab at a Ranji Trophy match at the PCA stadium in Mullanpur near here today. Gaurav scored 131 runs off 304 balls with 16 boundaries.
Chasing a mammoth 586 posted by the hosts, Chandigarh averted the looming defeat by scoring 389 runs. Visitors once again failed miserably in their second innings, but managed a draw with four wickets in hand. Punjab earned three points while Chandigarh consoled with one point on the basis of the first innings lead.
Trailing by 197 runs, Chandigarh’s second innings had a dismal start when Baltej Singh scalped Mohd Arsalan Khan and skipper Manan Vohra without troubling the scorer in the first two balls of the innings. Baltej claimed his third victim in his same spell when he bowled out Arjit Singh (10) with 25/3 on the scoreboard. Bhagmender Lather and Gaurav Puri went for ducks in the 14th over.
Later, Ankit Kaushik and Kunal Mahajan shared a 47-run partnership. Ankit fell one short of his half century. Chandigarh scored 96/6 with unbeaten batters Kunal Mahajan (25) and Sandeep Sharma (5) to draw the match.
