Punjab snatch 24-run win against Delhi

Mohali, Feb 16 (UNI) Hosts Punjab scored a 24-run victory over Delhi in the one-day North Zone Ranji Trophy match at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium here today.

Delhi captain Shikhar Dhawan won the toss and asked Punjab to bat first in a match which started 15 minutes behind schedule due to adverse weather conditions.

Punjab got four points from this win.

A useful 89-run partnership for the fourth wicket between opener Karan Goel (84, 6x4s, 2x6s, 161 minutes, 110 balls) and Uday Kaul (35, 2x4s, 1x6) helped Punjab post 242 for nine in 50 overs.

In the 207-minute-long innings, Punjab suffered an early blow when opener Ravneet Rickey was caught by Akash Chopra at second slip of the bowling of A Bhandari (1 for 34).

However, Karan Goel and Dinesh Mongia stabilised their innings with a 50-run stand for the second wicket before Mongia departed, caught by Gautam Gambhir at mid-off of the bowling of Kunal Lall (2 for 46).

Mongia contributed 37 with thre held of six fours in 41 minutes.

Then came the 89-run stand between Goel and Kaul. M Minhas, A Bali and Kunal Lall got two wickets each for 35, 28 and 46 runs, respectively.

Required to score 243 for win, Delhi were given a sound start by Akash Chopra (57, 6x4s, 1x6, 118 minutes, 100 balls) and Gautam Gambhir (43, 5x4s, 98 minutes, 46 balls) as their openers were associated in a 100-run partnership for the first wickets.

A direct throw by Uday Kaul led to the run out of Gambir.

Thereafter, Delhi could not consolidate their innings as they were losing wickets at regular intervals.

Punjab medium pacers Gagandeep Singh (2 for 23) and VRV Singh (2 for 46) and Dinesh Mongia (2 for 51) and Bipul Sharma (2 for 39) restricted Delhi's innings to 218 for 9 in 50 overs and 208 minutes.

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