Yuvraj's unbeaten 232 helps Punjab win title

Punjab captain Yuvraj Singh was in his elements on Saturday. With a splendid unbeaten 232, he steered his team easily towards a first innings lead over Bihar which sufficed for Punjab to take the title in the Cooch Behar Trophy (under-19) tournament at the Keenan stadium in Jamshedpur. Replying to Bihar's 357, Punjab at the end of the match were 431 for two from 139 overs.

When play resumed on the final morning, indications pointed out to a keen tussle for the all important first innings lead. But the Punjab batsmen had things their own way. Resuming at 108 for one, Manish Sharma and Yuvraj Singh batted comfortably right through the morning. Manish played the sheet anchor role while the left handed Yuvraj was the more aggressive partner.

At lunch the match had virtually been decided with Punjab comfortably perched on 257 for one. Shortly after the interval, the stand was finally broken but by then the second wicket partnership had added 207 runs off 61.4 overs. Manish was caught by Hashmi off Yadav for 95. He batted 5-1/2 hours, faced 292 balls and hit 16 fours.

There was no respite for the beleaguered Bihar bowlers even after the departure of Manish. For V Mahajan joined Yuvraj and the two settled down nicely for a long third wicket association which ultimately realised an unbroken 164 runs off 48 overs. Yuvraj remained the dominant partner during this stand too and when stumps were finally drawn, he had faced 294 balls and hit 26 fours and two sixes. While he reached his first hundred off 138 balls, Yuvraj surged to 200 off another 111 balls. Mahajan, when the match ended, was unbeaten with 59. He faced 166 balls and hit eight fours.