Ranji Trophy: MP's Ishwar Pandey scalps 8 but Yuvraj's 177 hands advantage to Punjab

Punjab suffered a batting collapse but still enjoyed an upper hand courtesy impressive knocks from captain Yuvraj Singh and Gurkeerat Singh and superb bowling from pacer Manpreet Gony on the second day of their Ranji Trophy match against Madhya Pradesh in Lahli on Friday.

Punjab resumed the day at 347 for 3 but could add just 31 runs from 19.2 overs at the expense of seven wickets to be all out at 378 in the morning session. They are still in a strong position after restricting MP to 182 for 5 at stumps on Friday.

Yuvraj, who is out of favour as far as national team is concerned, could add just 13 runs to his overnight 164 while another centurion Gurkeerat, who resumed the day at 101, scored just two runs more before being the first man out on Friday at the Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium.

Pacer Ishwar Pandey (8/102) rocked the Punjab innings with six more wickets today in addition to the two he already had on Thursday. He scalped the six of the last seven Punjab wickets, including that of Yuvraj who was the eighth batsmen out. Five Punjab batsmen were out in single digit scores on Friday. Yuvraj ended his innings of 177 after facing 295 balls from which he hit 14 boundaries.

In reply, MP were 182 for five in 62 overs with Punjab pacer Manpreet Gony grabbing four wickets for 25 runs. None of the MP batsmen could score substantial runs. Shubham Sharma was batting on 48 and he was being given company by Ankit Dane (14 batting) at stumps.

Brief Scores:

Punjab: 378 all out in 108.2 overs (Yuvraj Singh 177, Gurkeerat Singh 103; Ishwar Pandey 8/102).
Madhya Pradesh: 182/5 in 62 overs (Shubham Sharma 48 batting; Manpreet Gony 4/25).