VALSAD: Veteran skipper Mandeep Singh and young Gurnoor Brar hit half centuries as Punjab took a vital first innings lead of 46 runs against Jammu and Kashmir in a Group D Ranji Trophy match on Thursday.
Jammu and Kashmir started the third day's play at 176 for six and their first innings folded for 212 in 54.1 overs. The first two days of the match were heavily affected by poor weather.
Baltej Singh, who had taken a match haul of 11 wickets against Gujarat in an earlier game, once again was the pick of bowlers with figures of 5 for 47 in 15.1 overs while veteran Siddarth Kaul grabbed 4 for 82.
Jammu and Kashmir bowlers did put the hosts in trouble by reducing them to 147 for seven but Mandeep (69 off 104 balls) and Gurnoor (64 off 60 balls) added 100 runs to ensure at least three points for Punjab from the game. Their first innings ended at 268.
Gurnoor took the attack back to J&K camp, with five fours and three sixes.
At the end of the day, J&K had lost senior opener Shubham Khajuria to Baltej with the scorecard reading 18 for 1.
J&K are now 38 runs behind with a day's play left.
Brief Scores:
