FARIDABAD, February 14: An inspired effort from Haryana's late order batsmen pulled the hosts back on their feet after an embarrassing opening session on the first day of the Ranji Trophy Super League encounter against Bihar here today. Though they closed the day at a reasonable 281 for nine after opting to bat, Haryana would not be very happy at the turn of events. Harayna skipper Vijay Yadav hit his side out of a major mess at 122 for five with a 71-run stand for the sixth wicket with Sanjay Dalal. Yadav's aggressive 72 (77 b) signalled the first step in Haryana's comeback, which was later consolidated by a focussed unbeaten 63 (143 b, 7x4, 1x6) by their No 8 bat Pankaj Thakur.
Thakur stuck on with tailender Manish Sakhalkar for a 69-run ninth-wicket stand which nearly marred a dream day for the visitors.
SCOREBOARD:
HARYANA (1st Innings): J Singh lbw Sumit Panda 24, P Sharma b Avinash Kumar 37, D Singh c Jha b Panda 0, A Kaypee lbw Saxena 0, S Khan c Kumar b Panda 34, V Yadav b Rao 72, SDalal lbw Rao 4, P Thakur batting 63, P Jain lbw Avinash 7, M Sakhalkar c Rao b Panda 12, V Jain batting 0. Extras (nb 14, b 12, lb 2): 28. Total (9 wickets, 90 overs): 281.
Fall of wickets: 1-44, 2-47, 3-49, 4-94, 5-122, 6-193, 7-194, 8-212, 9-281.
Bowling: Panda 25-7-54-4; Saxena 15-1-71-1; A Kumar 26-4-75-2; R Kumar 3-0-27-0; Rao 20-5-39-2; Tariq-ur-Rehman 1-0-1-0.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
