Vidarbha bowlers produced a disciplined effort to bowl out Punjab for a modest 184 and take a strong grip over their Group A Ranji Trophy match here today.
By stumps on the opening day of the match at the PCA Stadium, the visitors had reached 75 for one to trail by 109 runs with nine wickets in hand.
Middle-order batsman and skipper Mandeep Singh top-scored with a strokeful 54-ball 56, but rest of the Punjab batsmen failed miserably against Shrikant Wagh and Amol Jungade, both finishing with three wickets apiece. There were also two wickets for medium pacer Sandeep Singh.
Coming in to bat at number 10, pacer V R V Singh smashed 30 off just 13 balls, hitting three fours and two sixes in the process. He was the second bes scorer in Punjab's first innings.
At the close of play, Faiz Fazal (34) Ravi Jangid (24) were batting for Vidarbha. They lost opener Akshay Kolhar for nine, the batsman getting out to Siddarth Kaul.
Sent into bat, Punjab were off to a poor start as they lost two wickets with just 16 runs on the board. Opener Jiwanjot Singh struggled to get 15 runs, facing 57 balls in 100 minutes of stay at the crease.
Taruwar Kohli was run out for 7 while Gurkeerat Singh could manage 14 before he was caught behind off the bowling of Singh.
Sandeep Sharma made 20 but it was Mandeep, who was the long bringh spot for the hosts. He smashed 12 fours during his quickfire knock.
Brief scores:
Punjab 1st innings: 184 all out in 47.4 overs (Mandeep Singh 56; Wagh 3/34, Jungade 3/63)
Vidarbha 1st innings: 75 for one in 32 overs (Faiz Fazal 34 not out, Ravi Jangid 24 not out).
