Chandigarh, Oct 26:
Himachal shocked formidable Punjab by seven wickets in the Vinoo Mankad Trophy at the PCA Stadium in Mohali, near here, today.
Punjab winning the toss and opting to bat were bundled out for 232 in 49.4 overs. The only redeeming feature of Punjab’s innings was 80 runs 2nd wicket runs stand between Jaskaranveer Singh (67, 8×4, 1×6) and inform batsman Bhupinder Singh (40, 2x4s, 2x6s) which took Punjab’s total to 126 for 2 in 26.3 overs.
Punjab batsmen could not consolidate the innings and apart from a late surged of 40 runs off 44 balls inclusive of 2 fours and one six by skipper Mohit Handa all other batsmen failed to click. For Himachal Arjun Sharma (3 for 61) and Akash Bashisht (2 for 53) doing most of the damage.
Himachal started their run chase with an opening partnership of 69 runs off 12.3 overs between Ankush Dhariwal (36) and P. Khandoori (70). Kanduri then joined Nakul Sharma to stitch another partnership of 74 runs for the 2nd wicket before Khanduri was trapped in front by Karan Kaila for 70 off 79 balls studded with 6 boundaries.(PTI)