Yuvraj Singh lights up Rajkot, scores third ton of season

Rajkot: Out-of-favour India batsman Yuvraj Singh completed a hat-trick of centuries in the ongoing Ranji season before Mandeep Singh hit a double ton, which guided Punjab to a formidable 659/7 in their Group B cricket match against Saurashtra here on Monday.

Resuming the second day on overnight 327/3 with Mandeep batting on 154 and Yuvraj five short of reaching yet another three-figure mark, the two batsmen went on to make big scores and pushed the hosts on the backfoot at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium.

While Yuvraj made 182 runs off 299 balls, Mandeep went on to score a monumental 235, his runs coming off 334 balls and after 432 minutes of batting.

Yuvraj spent 426 minutes in the middle, hitting 23 fours and two sixes. Mandeep struck 24 boundaries and three big sixes.

The duo put on 379 runs for the fourth wicket, before Gurkeerat Singh scored a century, the team's third in the first innings. Gurkeerat remained not out on 101 as Punjab declared after batting for 168 overs and 698 minutes.

At stumps, Saurashtra were 27 for no loss, trail by 632 runs with 10 wickets remaining in the first innings.