Himachal tightens grip on Haryana with Radhav Dhawan’s century

Raghav Dhawan hit a big century as Himachal Pradesh declared their first innings at 487 for four in their Ranji Trophy Group A match on the second day’s play here on Wednesday. Thirty-five-year-old Dhawan was unbeaten on 86 on the first day of the match. He completed his maiden first-class century, scoring 182 before becoming the victim of Jayant Yadav (1/100). Haryana, who were bundled out for just 46 runs in the first innings, struggled to avoid an innings defeat by scoring 72 for one at stumps in the second innings.

There are still two days of play left in the match and Haryana’s team is still 369 runs behind. Dhawan laid the foundation for a big score by sharing a 219-run partnership with opener Prashant Chopra (137 runs). He hit 22 fours and two sixes in his 359-ball innings. During this, Prashant, batting fast, hit 16 fours and four sixes in his 181-ball innings. Amit Kumar also contributed 81 runs for the team. In reply to Odisha’s first innings total of 457 in Cuttack, Baroda made a modest start scoring 77 for no loss. Uttar Pradesh, who scored just 198 runs in the first innings in Kolkata, dismissed Bengal for 169 runs on the second day of the match, scoring 122 runs for four wickets in the second innings. The total lead of the team has become 151 runs. Nagaland consolidated their position by posting 280 for three in reply to Uttarakhand’s 282 in the other group game at Sovima.