Hosts Punjab defeat Himachal by seven wickets

Mohali, Feb 20 (UNI) Hosts Punjab defeated Himachal Pradesh by seven wickets in the North Zone One-day Ranji Trophy fixture at the PCA Stadium here today.

Requiring 168 runs for win, Punjab achieved the target with the loss of three wickets in 38.3 overs.

Dinesh Mongia and Pankaj Dharmani were involed in a 138-run partnership for the third wicket. Dinesh Mongia was unlucky to miss the ton by just three runs as he was run out by Mehta. His 97 off contained 14 fours.

Pankaj Dharmani remained not out on 44 compiled off 69 balls.

Dharmani sent the ball to the fence four times.

Earlier, Himachal batted first and were dismissed for 167 runs.

Paras Dogra was their main scorer with 55 runs (6 fours).

Punjab gained five points and Himachal one.

Himachal: Ankur Bassi c Mongia b Gagandeep Singh 1 Sandeep Sharma c Mongia b Gagandeep Singh 21 P Dogra c Uniyal b Vipul Sharma 55 Sangram Singh run out (Ricky) 27 MS Bisla c Vipul Sharma b Malhatra 1 A Mannu c Dharmani b Malhatra 0 Sarandeep Singh c Dharmani b Gagandeep Singh 5 V Bhatia c Gupta b Gagandeep Singh 4 VS Malik c Uniyal b Vipul Sharma 2 AK Thakur st Dharmani b Mongia 8 J Mehta not out 12 32 23 0 1 52.17 Extras (b 1, lb 3, w 24, nb 3) 31 Total (all out; 47.5 overs; 207 mins) 167 Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-44, 3-110, 4-112, 5-112, 6-129 7-140, 8-141, 9-142, 10-167.

Bowling Gagandeep Singh 10-1-20- 4 VRV Singh 8-1-57-0 Amit Uniyal 8-2-20-0 I Malhatra 10-1-37-2 Vipul Sharma 10- 1-23-2 Dinesh Mongia 1.5-0-6-1.

Punjab: RS Ricky c Dogra b Thakur 0 Karan Goel c Sandeep Sharma b Thakur 9 Dinesh Mongia run out (Mehta) 97 Pankaj Dharmani not out 44 Uday Kaul not out 5 Extras (lb 7, w 2, nb 4) 13 Total (3 wickets; 38.3 overs) 168 Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-22, 3-160.

Bowling AK Thakur 7-2-16-2 VS Malik 10-0-43-0 J Mehta 5-0-32-0 V Bhatia 7-0-37-0 Sarandeep Singh 9.3-0-33-0 UNI