Bharath Bhushan (8 for 51) rips through Services

Punjab's 27-year-old medium pacer Bharath Bhushan ripped through the Services batting on the opening day of the North Zone Ranji Trophy league match at the Air Force Station ground in New Delhi on Friday. An unchanged spell of 12 overs got him figures of eight for 51 as Services were shot out for just 87 runs in 25.1 overs. By close, Punjab had rubbed salt into Services' wounds by scoring 217 for four off 50.5 overs.

Opting to bat, Services ran into trouble early and never recovered. Only three players P Maitrey (14), SD Nadkarni (17) and JP Pandey (20) reached double digits as Bhushan proved to be quite unplayable.

When Punjab batted, medium pacer Syed Javed removed Ravneet Ricky (1) and Manish Sharma (18) with only 23 runs on the board. But skipper Vikram Rathour and veteran Pankaj Dharmani added 173 runs for the third wicket off 37.5 overs to place their side in command. Rathour was out for 83. He faced 123 balls and hit 12 of them to the ropes. Dharmani came in unbeaten with 92 at stumps. He has so far faced 153 balls and hit 13 fours and a six.