Date-stamped : 07 Feb94 - 10:35 Sri Lanka v Punjab, Mohali, 3-5 Feb 94 ====> Day 1, 3 Feb 94 Sri Lankan cricketers are doing well against the Ranji Champions Punjab State in their three-day match at Chandigarh. Punjab team is captained by Gursharan Singh. Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Rana- tunga rested himself. Vice Captain Aravinda de Silva won the toss and decided to bat. Sri Lanka were 60 for one at lunch and were 203 for one at tea on the first day. Opener Samaraweera, who had two bad test matches against India, scored 87 runs. Tillekeratne is still at the crease with 104. Teams: Sri Lanka - Aravinda de Silva(captain), Dulip Samaraweera, Hashan Tillekeratne, Ruwan Kalpage, Pubudu Dassanayake, Don Arunasiri, Sanath Jayasuriya, Ravindra Pushpakumara, Marwan Attapattu, Anura Gunawardene, Chamanda Vas. Punjab- Gursharan Singh(captain), Vikram Rathore, Bhupinder Singh snr, Arun Sharma, Amit Sharma, Bhupinder Singh jnr, Ajay Mehra, Obaid Kamal, Aashish Kapoor, Bharti Vij, Rajdeep Kalsi. (Summarized from Reuter reports.) Contributed by Vicky (VIGNESWA@*umass.edu) ====> Day 1, MORE TILLEKERATNE SPURS SRI LANKA WITH CAVALIER CENTURY Hashan Tillekeratne struck a cavalier, unbeaten 142 that spurred SriLanka to the highest score of their tour of India on Thursday. Tillekeratne and opener Dilip Samaraweera (89) carried Sri Lanka to 280 for two at the close on the opening day of their three-day game against India's national Ranji Trophy champions Punjab. Second wicket pair Tillekeratne and Samaraweera put on 207, gain- ing valuable batting practice ahead of next week's final test of the three-match series against India in which the Sri Lankans trail 2-0. Tillekeratne hit 19 boundaries on the way to his 12th first-class century which enabled Sri Lanka to beat their previous highest tour total of 231 in the first innings of the second test in Bangalore last week. Tillekaratne, who was particularly severe on off-spinner Bharati Vij, mixed caution with aggression and was still going strong at the close, having faced 258 balls during his 338-minutes at the crease. He and Samaraweera laid the foun- dation of a big Sri Lankan score after opener Anura Gunawardene fell cheaply. Gunawardene scored only one before popping up a catch to Rajdeep Kalsi at short-leg off medium-fast bowler Obaid Kamal with the total on two. Samaraweera survived a close run out chance when on 38 and made Punjab pay for this lapse before he fell 11 short of a well- deserved century. Vij made no mistake with a caught and bowled chance, the only reward for his lion-hearted bowling. Arvinda de Silva, leading the touring team in this match with captain Arjuna Ranatunga taking a break, was keeping Tillekaratne company at the close on 34. (Reuter) Contributed by Vicky (VIGNESWA@*umass.edu) ====> Day 2, 4 Feb 94 sri lankans declare at 341 for seven SL 280-2 overnight, Punjab 234-3 at stumps. mohali, feb 4 (pti) a fine spell of bowling by bhupinder singh senior, four for 29, helped ranji champion punjab restrict sri lanka at 341 for seven declared on the second day of their three day match here today. resuming at the overnight score of 280 for 2, sri lanka lost the five wickets of skipper aravinda de silva (36), s. jayasuriya (0), m. attapattu (15), r. kalpage (0), all four to bhupinder senior and p.d. dasanayake (6) to ashish kapoor. the visitors declared their first innings 15 minutes before lunch. the home side, punjab, were zero for zero at lunch with vikram rathore and ajay mehra, at the crease. de silva, got a life at 34 when p kalsi fielding at forward short leg dropped him off bhupinder singh seniors' second over of the day. after the addition of two runs, de silva(36) was caught at the slip by gursharan singh to give bhupinder senior his first victim at the sri lankan total of 284 for three. bhupinder senior got his second success when at the same score the new batsman, s. jayasuriya, was caught at gully. (Source: PTI, Thanks to AjayG) ====> Day 2, MORE RATHORE'S CENTURY RESCUES PUNJAB MOHALI- An unbroken 144-run fourth wicket partnership between opener Vikram Rathore (143) and Bhupinder Singh Jr (52) helped Punjab score 234 for three in their first innings in reply to Sri Lanka's 341 for seven declared on the second day of the three-day match here today. (from misc.news.southasia) ====> Day 2, MORE RATHORE CANES SRI LANKA BOWLERS FOR UNBEATEN 143 Earlier on the second day Hashan Tillekeratne added a further 34 runs to his overnight 142 before the touring team's declaration. He faced 322 balls during his marathon innings. The touring team had carried their overnight score of 280-2 to 341-7 declared. Bhupinder Singh snr used the morning wind to his advantage, cap- turing 4-25 in a spirited 12-over spell. He finished with 4-83 from 35 overs. Punjab opener Vikram Rathore hit an unbeaten 143 as Sri Lanka's bowlers were made to toil on the second day of their three-day match against Punjab on Friday. His cavalier century included two sixes and 18 fours. Rathore and Bhupinder Singh jnr (52 not out) put on 144 for the fourth wicket after the Ranji Trophy champions had slipped to 90-3, medium pacer Ravindra Pushpakumara picking up two of the wickets. (Reuter) Contributed by Vicky (VIGNESWA@*umass.edu) ====> Day 3, 5 Feb 94 MOHALI(PUNJAB)- The three-day tie between Ranji champions Punjab and Sri Lanka ended in a tame draw here this afternoon. The match was called off after seven of the 15 mandatory overs had been bowled with Punjab on 86 for two. Earlier, the visitors had de- clared their innings closed at 187 for five leaving the hosts a target of 295 to win in 37 overs. (from m.n.s.) Match ended in a draw. Scores SL 341-7 dec & 187-5 dec, Punjab 234-3 dec & 86-2. Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)