There has been a striking similarity between the weather and Punjab team’s performance in the ongoing Ranji Trophy match against hosts Delhi. While the haze brought gloom to their dressing room on Sunday when Punjab got out for a paltry 74, the sun that came out of hiding on Monday brought cheer for them.
First their bowlers restricted the Delhi to 150 in the morning and then batsmen led by talented opener Jiwanjot Singh took Punjab to 177 for 3 at stumps on day two at the Rosharana Club here on Monday. Punjab lead Delhi by 101 runs with seven wickets in hand.
“Commendable effort,” said Punjab coach Bhupinder Singh Sr as he summed up his team’s performance but he was still cautious about weather conditions in the next two days. “All depends on what the conditions are in the next two days. It helped that it was a bit sunny today but if the conditions are like the first day, it will be difficult to bat,” he added.
Jiwanjot (105 not out), who scored his second century of this season after his double ton against Vidharba at Mohali, was pragmatic in his approach. There was decisiveness in his footwork and shot selection. To counter swing and disturb bowlers’ line and length, he was regularly walking down the pitch before playing or leaving the ball — an indication of maturity. Though he got a reprieve when on 40 as Virender Sehwag dropped a simple chest-height catch in the first slip off Rajat Bhatia, Jiwanjot deserves full points for his gritty century.
His cover drives were exquisite and square cuts between point and gully fielders were effective as he collected most of his 15 boundaries through these two areas, including the one which took him to three digit figure.
He shared two crucial partnerships with Uday Kaul (21) — 65 for the second wicket — and Mandeep Singh (29 not out) — unbroken 74 for the fourth wicket. Yuvraj Singh (4) again disappointed as he fell in the similar fashion (lBW) to the same bowler, Rajat Bhatia.
In the morning, Delhi batsmen repeated the mistakes made by their counterparts on Sunday. The lacked application against a sustained attack on a pitch that provided help to the seamers. The lone bright spot for Delhi was Unmukt Chand’s half-century that helped the hosts take 76-run lead in the innings.
Virender Sehwag (10) looked comfortable with the bat but a misjudged single cost him his wicket.
Brief Scores
Punjab: 74 & 177/3 in 52 overs (Jiwanjot Singh 105 batting, Mandeep Singh 29 batting) lead Delhi: 150 in 45.1 overs (Unmukt Chand 55, Rahul Yadav 15, Manpreet Gony 3/42, Siddharth Kaul 3/49) by 101 runs.