Chhattisgarh blundered in the crunch moments on Wednesday and sabotaged its own escape, handing Punjab a seven-wicket win in their Ranji Trophy second-round fixture at the New PCA Stadium in New Chandigarh.
Ayush Pandey (111, 252, 16×4, 2×6) was single handedly stalling Punjab’s charge by picking on the spinners in the morning session.
His foray against Harpreet Brar began with a slog sweep and even included a reverse sweep, squeezing the corridor the left-arm orthodox could operate in. For a second time in as many days, Gurnoor Brar was introduced to disrupt a set batter only to see his surprise bouncer ramped over the keeper.
The Punjab pacer’s bouncer, however, was successful in sending back Amandeep Khare, who was struck on his left arm and had to retire hurt.
Harjas Tandon castled Vikalp Tiwari on a duck, but Rahul Pradhan channeled his on-side range to pick quick runs. He swept and paddle swept Harjas for boundaries before the off-spinner dragged a delivery shorter and quicker, forcing a leading edge to mid-on and ending the partnership on 57.
The sucker punch came one over later, minutes before Lunch, as Pandey threw away his work in wanting a hasty single. He tapped to substitute Ramandeep Singh at mid-on but was sent back from half-way down by his partner Ajay Mandal (45, 61, 7×4).
Chhattisgarh found second wind in Dharmendra Jadeja (47, 80b, 3×4, 2×6) and Mandal’s partnership that lasted 21 overs and brought the side 84 runs. Jadeja did not digress from the go-to option of the day, sweeping abundantly for boundaries. The shot earned him two maximums over deep midwicket off Harpreet.
In an attempt to emulate the approach, Mandal made the error of not covering the line and was castled around his legs.
Khare returned despite an injured arm to hold one end. However, when Chhattisgarh needed Jadeja to assess his options, he was bowled on an ill-executed sweep off Harjas. With a bottom-handed defence his only option, Khare was a sitting duck for Emanjot Chahal, leaving Punjab with an entire session and just 86 runs to chase.
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The only blemish left for Punjab to rue was Harpreet falling short of a 10-wicket haul (9/173) after Emanjot had dropped Jadeja on 42 at deep midwicket.
Jadeja and Mandal nabbed the openers within the opening four overs but it was not enough for a late twist.
The jitters were swept away by Prabhsimran Singh, literally, as he deployed the shot twice off Jadeja for boundaries. Prabhsimran was wrongly adjudged caught at silly point when replays showed a gap between bat and pad.
The wicket merely reduced the margin as Uday Saharan took the wheel with his unbeaten 40 and was once again joined by Salil Arora in steadying the ship and taking the team to its destination.
Published on Oct 21, 2026
