da winzada777： An inspired five wicket haul by the Punjab left arm spinner BablooKumar helped the hosts crush Rajasthan by an innings and 12 runs onthe third day of the five day Ranji Trophy pre quarterfinal match atthe Punjab Cricket Association ground in
Staff Reporter12-Mar-2001An inspired five wicket haul by the Punjab left arm spinner BablooKumar helped the hosts crush Rajasthan by an innings and 12 runs onthe third day of the five day Ranji Trophy pre quarterfinal match atthe Punjab Cricket Association ground in Mohali on Monday. They nowplay reigning champions Mumbai in the quarterfinal at the Wankhedestadium from March 20.Resuming at the overnight score of four for no loss in their secondinnings, Rajasthan, 318 runs in arrears on the first innings, were allout for 306. Openers VA Saxena (11) and skipper Gagan Khoda (40) tookthe score to 25 but Punjab seamer Gagandeep Singh made the firstinroads by trapping Saxena leg before in the 19th over of the innings.Then Rahul Kanwat (88) joined his skipper and took the score along to97. Khoda after a patient 110-ball innings was bowled by Babloo Kumarto give the latter his first wicket of the innings.Nikhil Doru (14) then partnered Kanwat for a third wicket stand worth54 useful runs. Doru was trapped in front of the stumps by BablooKumar and he was soon followed to the pavilion by Kanwat. During his166-minute stay at the crease, Kanwat faced 116 balls and hit 14boundaries and two sixes.All this while, Rajasthan nurtured hopes of making Punjab bat againand Saket Bhatia lead them from the front with a valiant innings of53. He shared a 55-run sixth wicket stand with Rohit Jhalani (27) whichtook them closer to their objective. But the fall of Jhalani and alittle later, Bhatia left them stranded. Bhatia, who was the seventhbatsman to be dismissed, faced just 86 balls and found the boundaryropes on ten occasions.Babloo Kumar came back and struck twice to pick up the wickets ofSanjeev Sharma and Mohd Aslam. The last three wickets yielded just 36runs, which saw them falling short of their target by 12 runs. BablooKumar ended with figures of 5 for 48 from 17.5 overs.