Himachal beats Services by 5 wickets

New Delhi, Feb 26 (UNI) A well crafted 81 by Manninder Bisla and his 154-run stand with Paras Dogra guided Himachal to a five-wicket win over Services in their opening Ranji trophy one-day championship match at Palam ground here today.

After winning the toss and electing to bat, Services posted 243 for the loss of six wickets in their alotted 50 overs.

Captain Yashpal Singh contributed with an unbeaten 74 and his crucial 80-run partnership with Panta Rao (64) guided Services to a respectable total.

For Himachal, Vikramjeet Malik and Rishi Dhawan claimed two wickets each.

In reply, Himachal began to a shaky start with their opener Sandeep Sharma out cheaply when the team score was only on 14.

Hemant Dogra(27) and all-rounder Vikramjeet Malik held the innings for a while with a 38-run stand for the third wicket.

However, the stage for the victory was set by the 154-run partnership off 172 balls between Manindar Bisla and Paras Dogra for the fifth wicket.

Himachal reached the target for the loss of five wickets with 3.2 overs to spare.

Scoreboard Services innings Jasbir Singh lbw Vishal Bhatia 36 Tahir Khan c Paras Dogra b Rishi Dhawan 16 Penta Rao st M Bisla b Mukesh sharma 64 Yashpal Singh not out 74 Abhishek Sakuja b Mukesh Sharma 08 Saumick Chaterjee c Vishal Bhatia b Vikramjeet 27 Narender Kumar c M Bisla b Vikramjeet 06 Devendra Israni not out 01 Extras (lb-04 w-O6 nb-01) 11 Total (six-wicets, 50 overs) 243 Fall of wickets: 1-52, 2-80, 3-160, 4-172, 5-235, 6-242 Bowling: Ashok Thakur 8-1-31-0, Vikramjeet Malik 9-0-42-2, Rishi Dhawan 5-0-23-1, Sarandeep Singh 10-0-52-0, Vishal Bhatia 10-1-27-1, Mukesh Sharma 8-0-64-2 Himachal innings Hemant Dogra run out Jasbir Singh 27 Sandeep Sharma c Yashpal Singh b Rakesh Kumar 09 Vikramjeet Malik c Narender Kumar b Mnish jha 27 Paras Dogra c A Sakuja b Yashpal Singh 75 Manninder Bisla st D Israni b Yashpal Singh 81 Ajay Mannu not out 16 Mukesh Sharma not out 02 Extras (byes-04 lb-02 nb-01 w-03) 10 Total (five wickets, 46.4 overs) 247 Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-52, 3-66, 4-220, 5-235 Bowling: Manish Jha 9-1-50-1, Rakesh Kumar 6-0-25-1 , Narender kumar 3-0-21-0, Abhishek Sakuja 10-1-42-0, Arnav Kush 10-0-52-0, Saumek Chaterjee 2-0-13-0, Yashpal Singh 6.4-0-38-2 Result: Himachal won by five wickets UNI RKM RAR KP2142