A Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batsman played like a lone warrior to lead his team to a respected total in arduous conditions during a Ranji Trophy match. Had he not struck in time, his team could have been far behind in the game.

Madhya Pradesh batsman Rajat Patidar scored a timely 90 off 178 deliveries, including eight boundaries and three maximums, to save his team’s pride. When he reached the crease, Madhya Pradesh were reeling at 50/3 in 16.1 overs and required a great partnership to stabilize the innings.

Rajat formed a cautious stand with captain Shubham Sharma (61) but wickets started falling again as he was left with just a few supporters. He counter-attacked with some big shots and took Madhya Pradesh to 207 in 73.5 overs when it looked like they were going to be trapped around 170.

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43.47% of the runs in the innings came from Patidar’s willow alone, and he was only among four batsmen to reach double figures and finished as the highest run-scorer of the innings. He always found ways to score runs in precarious situations and came up with another clever knock to bring his team closer to Punjab’s score, even if they still fell short in the first innings.

Punjab leads by 70 runs after first dig by both teams

After winning the toss, Punjab opted to bat first and did well by scoring 277 in a tough deck in Chandigarh. Initially, they were in big trouble when Punjab lost five wickets for 48 runs in 20.3 overs, but Salil Arora, the wicketkeeper batsman, stepped up and scored a wonderful ton, scoring 101 runs.

Sukhwinder Singh, the lower order batsman at number 9, also played a tremendous knock of 66 runs to take Punjab to a fighting score. Kulwant Khejroliya snared three wickets while Kumar Kartikeya and Anubhav Agarwal dismissed two batsmen each for Madhya Pradesh.

During their first innings, Madhya Pradesh could only reach 207 as Rajat Patidar and Shubham Sharma did the heavy lifting. Gurnoor Brar took three wickets while three other bowlers sent down two batsmen each to help Punjab take a vital 70-run lead in the first innings.

This 70-run lead will be vital for Punjab as the track may not improve for batting in the remaining period. Madhya Pradesh would have to get it right during the second dig at Punjab and pack them together as quickly as possible to make it a contest.

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