Nadaun: Out-of-favour Indian batsman Yuvraj Singh failed to make it count for Punjab as the Harbhajan Singh-led side lost to Haryana by 3 wickets in the Vijay Hazare one-day tournament at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium, here on Thursday.
Put into bat, the much fancied Punjab rode Mandeep Singh's 86 to muster 252 for eight in 50 overs and Haryana achieved the target in 49.1 overs.
Yuvraj stuck around for his 31-ball 23 but was finally stumped off spinner Jayant Yadav. The left-hander struck 2 fours and a six in his 44-minute stay at the crease.
Apart from a solid effort from Mandeep, it was Taruwar Kohli, who made the fight for Punjab with an unbeaten 47 off 39 balls.
Haryana medium-pacer Ashish Hooda picked up 3 wickets while skipper Harshal Patel, who shared the new ball with Joginder Sharma, bagged 2 wickets.
Getting behind their 253-run chase, Haryana were given a solid start by openers Avi Barot (53) and Sunny Singh (25) but Sachin Rana stood out with an unbeaten 71.
After turning it with the ball, off-spinner Jayant also contributed with the bat, scoring a valuable 32 at No.8.
For Punjab also it was off-spinner Gurkeerat Singh Mann who bagged 2 wickets while Harbhajan also scalped one.
In another game at Dharamsala, Services edged out Himachal Pradesh by 2 wickets to gain vital 4 points on Day 1 of the tournament.
Although Services made heavy weather of their 182-run chase, they finally got to their target with a good 10 overs to spare.
Summarised scores:
Punjab 252/8 in 50 overs (Mandeep Singh 86, Taruwar Kohli 47 not out; Ashish Hooda 3-53, Harshal Patel 2-62) lost to Haryana 253/7 in 49.1 overs (Avi Barot 53, Sachin Rana 71 not out; Gurkeerat Singh 2-28) by 3 wickets.
Himachal Pradesh 181 all out in 45.2 overs (Prashant Chopra 43, Bipul Sharma 35; Narendra Kumar 3-38) lost to Services 182/8 in 40 overs (Nakul Verma 57, Yashpal Singh 28; Vikramjeet Malik 3-36, Rahul Singh 3-27) by 2 wickets.
