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Punjab v Railways, Ranji Trophy final, 3rd day
Railways steal the advantage
Bulletin by Siddhartha Vaidyanathan in Mohali
April 1, 2005
Railways 355 and 123 for 2 (JP Yadav 64*) trail Punjab
309 (Dharmani 115, JP Yadav 5-83) by 169 runs
Scorecard
How they were out
An inspirational hundred by Pankaj Dharmani, at a time when Punjab
appeared out for the count, put the game back on an even keel but
Railways regained their advantage at the end of the day through a
blistering counterattack. In a magnificent display of risk management,
Dharmani shepherded the tail to near-perfection, eked out runs through
deft angles and whittled away the deficit to only 46. But Jai Prakash
Yadav, who shone with the ball earlier in the day, pounded a
thrill-a-minute 64, with seven fours and two sixes, and helped Railways
regain their grasp.
With Yadav, nobody knows what to expect and though nowhere in the same
class, 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 five
steps and digging in a bouncer, steaming in from 15 steps and floating a
slower ball and batting with carefree abandon. If his dogged effort in the
first-innings neutralised Punjab's advantage at the toss, his attacking
burst today partly nullified their lower-order resistance. Walking in at
31 for 2 with Punjab's bowlers tightening the noose he punched, sliced and
blasted through the tension within a span of half an hour. Speed was met
with power, spin with dynamite and the rest with cheeky pushes, fine
glides and rustic swats. Sanjay Bangar was almost invisible at the other
end and Punjab walked off the field yet again wondering how fightback
after fightback was continuously thwarted.
Dharmani, though, had engineered a great turnaround and just like he had
done in the semi-finals at Mumbai defied determined bowlers and massive
odds as Punjab wriggled out of a perilous position. Yadav's two quick
wickets at the start of the day - Muneesh Sharma beaten by an indipper and
Sandeep Sawal nicking to the wicketkeeper - had put Railways within
touching distance of the title, 181 runs ahead and one end opened up. But
the two Singhs - Gagandeep and VRV - showed tremendous gumption while
interspersing dead-bat defence with dead-straight pushes and helped
Dharmani prosper at the other end.
It was the Dharmani-Gagandeep firm that had inched Punjab past Mumbai's
daunting target two weeks back and both made sure they didn't withdraw
into a shell. Though the scoring-rate dipped, they were always on the
look-out for run-scoring opportunities and Dharmani placed tremendous
faith in Gagandeep's, as well as the rest's, batting ability. Railways'
bowling gradually lost its venom and barring Yadav's unpredictable
all-sorts the batsmen were rarely hassled. Gagandeep's wicket soon after
lunch, bowled by Yadav's deceptive faster pace, triggered a mini-collapse
but VRV Singh surprised everyone with his stubborn ways.
At the other end Dharmani picked the right deliveries to get after the
spinners and inched towards his 18th Ranji hundred with some canny
rotation of strike. He brought up the landmark with a gorgeous straight
drive and maintained his follow-through position for close to ten seconds.
He probably thought of the Ranji final in 1993, his debut game, when
Punjab triumphed for the first and only time in the tournament. He
probably 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 Prakash
Yadav.
How they were out
Punjab
Muneesh lbw b JP Yadav 18 (174 for 5) Beaten by an indipper
as he was rooted to the crease.
Sawal c Wankhede b JP Yadav 0 (174 for 6) Driving at one
outside off stump and nicked a simple catch
Gagandeep b JP Yadav 17 (242 for 7) Missed one that came in
after pitching.
Vineet c Madan b JP Yadav 10 (258 for 8) Attempted to loft
one over mid-on managed only elevation and no distance.
Rajesh b Harvinder 0 (258 for 9) Beaten for pace and failed
to come down on a straight one.
Dharmani b JP Yadav (309 all out) Under-edged on to his
stumps while trying to pull a short ball.
Railways
Amit Pagnis lbw b Gagandeep 0 (0 for 1) Beaten by the late
inswing and was declared out for a golden duck.
Khanolkar run out (Ricky) 3 (31 for 2) Involved in a
misunderstanding with Bangar and was beaten by Ricky's direct hit at the
non-striker's end.
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan is on the staff of Cricinfo.
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