HP take upper hand against Services

Himachal Pradesh's Prashant Chopra struck a fluent 115-ball 90 and shared a 138-run opening wicket stand with skipper Aakash Chopra to lay a strong foundation for a big first innings total against Services in their Group C Ranji Trophy match in Nadaun.

Replying to Services' first innings total of 312 all out, Prashant and Aakash (65) gave their team a flying start as the hosts ended the second day on a high note at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium.

While Prashant struck 13 fours and three sixes in his aggressive innings, Chopra was more content to play the role of a sheet anchor as he took 141 balls for his 65 and had eight hits to the fence.

After the dismissal of both the openers, Paras Dogra, in the company of C Hemanth Kumar, kept the momentum going as both shared an unbroken 82-run stand for the third wicket to take their team to a comfortable 252 for two at the end of day's play.

Himachal clicked as a batting unit as all their batsmen came good against the Services bowlers.

Earlier, resuming at their overnight score of 290 for 6, Services' lower order was polished off by pacer Vikramjeet Malik, who picked up three wickets for 89 runs in his 26 overs.

Rishi Dhawan wrapped up the Services innings when he had Nishan Singh (4) caught by wicketkeeper Aatish Bhalaik. Dhawan also ended up with an impressive figures of 3 for 80 in his 27.4 overs.

Brief Scores:
Services 1st innings: 312 all out in 97.4 overs (Pratik Desai 61, Soomik Chatarjee 54; Rishi Dhawan 3/80).
Himachal Pradesh 1st innings: 252 for two in 80 overs (Prashant Chopra 90, Aakash Chopra 65; Suraj Yadav 1/47).