da bet vitoria： Gurgaon: Services defeated Haryana by one run in a cliff hanger intheir third one day inter-state encounter at the Nehru Stadium here onFriday
Rakesh Sanghi06-Nov-1999Gurgaon: Services defeated Haryana by one run in a cliff hanger intheir third one day inter-state encounter at the Nehru Stadium here onFriday.Electing to bat on a wicket which appeared full of runs, Servicesafter making a hesitant start were able to raise a respectable totalof 217 for 8 in the allotted 50 overs. Sarabjit Singh emerged the topscorer with 58 runs hitting five boundaries of 108 balls before beingcaught by Vineet Jain off Parender Sharma. Opener K.K.Dixit (44 runs,49 balls, 1×6, 5×4 ) and C.D.Thomson (42 runs, 55 balls, 3×4 ) alsomade useful contributions. A partnership of 69 runs between SarabjitSingh and C.D.Thomson for the fifth wicket was also a highlight of theServices innings. Amit Nadkari remained not out on 26.For Haryana Sonu Sharma bowled economically conceding just 18 runs in10 overs to capture one wicket. However, skipper Parender Sharma wasthe most successful bowler taking three wickets at the cost of 32 runswhile Pradeep Jain and Manish Sakhalkar took two wickets each givingaway 35 and 60 runs respectively.Chasing a target of 218 at an asking rate of 4.36, Haryana lookedcertain to win at one stage, but lost the match by the narrowest ofmargins when four balls remained to be bowled. They were all out for216 runs in 49.2 overs.Haryana began with Jatinder Singh and Parender Sharma. Wicketscontinued to fall at one end but Jatinder went on to score 51 runsscored off 66 balls in 98 minutes with the help of five fours. At thefall of the sixth wicket the score was 126. Rajesh Puri and AjayRatra then added 41 runs off 43 balls. Ratra scored only 10 runsbefore he was run out by an excellent direct throw by NarenderSingh. Rajesh Puri carried Haryana nearer to victory but he was caughtat mid wicket by Sarabjit Singh off M.V.Rao while trying a needlessheave with just two runs to win off 8 balls. He scored 73 runs withthe help of a six and 8 fours off 86 balls but his innings wasultimately in vain.For Services M.V.Rao and K.K.Dixit took three wickets each giving away36 and 32 runs respectively.