Dein erstes Forum » first-class century, while opener Saurabh Wakaskar and

Punjab v Services, Mohali, 1997-98Even before I made my Ranji Trophy debut, there was some chatter that I was in contention for a place in the Indian side. My name was doing the rounds because I had played the Under-19 World Cup, and I was the only spinner in the country who was bowling the doosra at that time. Earlier in the season, when the Indian team was practising, I was asked to bowl in the nets to them.Before that, there was a West Zone team that came to Jalandhar for the Deodhar Trophy; there was Sanjay Manjrekar, who was leading the team, Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli. I bowled to them in the nets and got all of them out quite a few times. At that time, [Mumbai coach] Balwinder Singh Sandhu apparently wanted me to represent Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy, but people in the Punjab Cricket Association said I had a promising career ahead and would play for Punjab. So I knew my turn would come any time, and wasnt really surprised by the call-up.The Punjab team had Vikram Rathour, who captained in this game, Sherry pa [Navjot Singh Sidhu], who captained the side that season, Pankaj Dharmani and Bharati Vij. These were the big guns we used to hear of during our U-19 days, and here I was, playing alongside them. I knew Punjab already had an offspinner in the form of Ashish Kapoor. I had no idea at that time if the wicket we played on would allow for two spinners to be played, but I got to play and I was really happy.The Punjab team was sponsored by a famous apparel brand at that time. Every player in the team used to wear the branded t-shirt - the jersey was nicely done and was proper English white in colour - and I used to long for it too. It was a great thrill to finally wear it, and I wouldnt take it off even while bowling in the nets in Jalandhar.The one thing I was most scared of - and there wasnt much nervousness about my debut - was facing up to one of their bowlers, who had a reputation for being very quick; I think it was MV Rao. At the U-19 level, you dont face many quick bowlers, and you naturally assume that bowlers in the Ranji Trophy are much faster.I was worried about being hit by Rao, and kept praying that he wouldnt bowl to me. It was one of my earliest experiences of wearing the helmet - given the hype around Raos pace, I would have gladly worn two of those. As luck would have it, it was Rao who was bowling when I came out to bat. But, after I got bat on ball off the first delivery, I felt good and realised I had been unnecessarily scared. Now, I knew that he wasnt unplayable.Soon, I began to treat it as just another game. Somewhere down the line, I realised that it had been harder bowling to some U-19 batsmen than against Services because they werent a great team at that time. When I picked up my first wicket, Sherry pa said in his typical style: Oye, Shabaash bacchu, Cha gaya beta [well done, kid]. Sherry pa was my hero. There was a jolly environment in the team at that time, and we would constantly pull each others legs. I was younger than most and used to hang out a lot with Harvinder Singh most of the time; he was another prankster.I played only four or five first-class matches before my international debut. In that season, there was a game against Karnataka, which was quite crucial for Punjab. Nine of Karnatakas eleven players were internationals - people like Rahul Dravid, Sujith Somasundar, Venkatesh Prasad, Javagal Srinath and Anil [Kumble] bhai were playing. The selectors were there to see what the big fuss was about me. I picked up three wickets in the first innings and two in the second.I bowled well in whatever opportunity I got in the game. I troubled Rahul Dravid quite a bit, and was more than happy that I was challenging a top batsman like him. With every game I played, I knew I was coming one step closer to my dream of playing for the country.As told to Arun Venugopal Cheap Harold Baines Jersey . Isner, ranked No. 14, won his eighth career singles title and took the title in New Zealand for the second time after his victory in 2010. The match was similar to Isners quarterfinal victory over fifth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber which went to three sets, all tiebreaks and contained no breaks of serve. Cheap Bo Jackson Jersey . 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Baroda, who were dismissed for 97 in the first innings, finished the day with a lead of 84 runs after seamer Atit Sheths 7 for 36 routed Bengal for 76.Bengal grabbed the early advantage through Ashok Dindas 6 for 45. Barodas top score in the first innings was 17, from opener Aditya Waghmode. Only three other batsmen scored in double-figures, all of them making 13. Sudip Chaterjee top-scored for Bengal with 37, playing a lone hand as the side slumped from 25 for 1 to 52 for 8 within 14 overs. Six wickets in this period fell to Sheth, who had earlier dismissed opener Abhimanyu Easwaran in the second over.Mukesh Kumar and Amit Kuila, who had taken four wickets between them in the first innings, then quickly dismantled Barodas top order in the second innings before Kedar Devdhar stabilized the side with 34 not out. They finished the day at 63 for 3.Opener Priyank Panchals eighth first-class hundred led Gujarat to 246 for 3 at stumps against Mumbai in Hubli. Panchal and his opening partner Samit Gohel gave the side a strong start after Gujarat opted to bat, with a partnership of 172 runs. Gujarat lost Gohel, Bhargav Merai and Parthiv Patel quickly before Panchal added an unbeaten 43-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Manpreet Juneja. Panchal remained not out on 122 off 256 balls with 17 fours.Mumbai used eight bowlers but the only ones to get wickets were Vishal Dabbholkar, who struck in successive overs, and Aditya Dhumal.dddddddddddd. Railways batsmen, particularly Nitin Bhille, dominated the first day against Madhya Pradesh in Delhi, taking their score to 249 for 2 at stumps. Bhille was unbeaten on 102, his third first-class century, while opener Saurabh Wakaskar and Arindam Ghosh scored 62 and 61 not out respectively. Wakaskar and Shivakant Shukla had added 50 for the first wicket, before Bhille and Wakaskar put on 67 for the second wicket. Bhille and Ghosh then added 132 runs for the unbroken third-wicket partnership. Offspinner Saransh Jain and left-arm spinner Ankit Sharma took the only two wickets to fall on the day.Three wickets from seamer K Vignesh, including two in one over - the 32nd of the innings, helped Tamil Nadu claw back and limit Punjab to 241 for 6 in Nagpur. Punjabs openers had moved on to 97 for 0 in the 29th over before they lost three quick wickets for 10 runs. Vignesh dismissed Manan Vohra for 73 off the second ball of the 32nd over and sent back Mandeep Singh four balls later. Punjab recovered briefly through a 53-run partnership between Uday Kaul and Gurkeerat Singh, who led Punjab after Harbhajan Singh missed the game due to personal reasons. Tamil Nadu, however, reigned them in with two quick wickets before Vignesh contributed another one, through a run-out, which sent back Kaul for 56. ' ' '