Sanvir Singh's 205 and Salil Arora's fourth hundred in four matches carry Punjab to 577 for 8

Punjab have turned 71 for 5 into 577 for 8 against Andhra at New Chandigarh, with Sanvir Singh making 205 and Salil Arora a fourth hundred in four matches this Ranji Trophy season

Andhra won the toss at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium and chose to field, and for 22 overs the decision looked a shrewd one. Punjab were 71 for 5, three of those wickets falling in the space of four balls without a run being added.

By the second afternoon the hosts were 577 for 8 from 154 overs, 506 of those runs scored after the fifth wicket fell.

The recovery belonged to Sanvir Singh, who made 205 from 375 balls, and to Salil Arora, whose 144 was his fourth century in Punjab's four matches of this Ranji Trophy season. Their sixth-wicket stand was worth 272.

Three wickets without a run

Vihaan Malhotra and Prabhsimran Singh were both given out lbw to Kalidindi Raju, Malhotra for 30 from 65 balls and Prabhsimran for 24 from 21 after an opening stand of 35.

In between, Punjab went from 51 for 1 to 51 for 4 inside four balls. Kavuri Saiteja took three of the first five wickets, all of them caught, among them the captain Uday Saharan for a two-ball duck and Ramandeep Singh for a one-ball duck.

Arora walked in at 51 for 4 and was still there when the fifth wicket went down at 71 in the 23rd over.

A stand of 272 for the sixth wicket

Sanvir Singh joined Arora at 71 for 5 and the two were not parted until the score read 343, a partnership that ran from the opening day into the second.

Both were there at the close of the opening day, Arora on 111 from 186 balls and Sanvir on exactly 100 from 183, with Punjab 276 for 5.

Arora was caught off Saurabh Kumar for 144 from 252 balls, an innings of 16 fours and three sixes that ended the stand at 343 for 6.

Sanvir batted on to 205 from 375 balls, with 22 fours and a six, before Tripurana Vijay had him caught by Shaik Rasheed with the total on 497.

A fourth hundred in four matches

Arora, a 23-year-old wicketkeeper-batter, has now made 110 against Assam, 107 against Chhattisgarh, 151 against Hyderabad and 144 against Andhra in Punjab's four games this season.

That is 522 runs from six innings at 104.40, with a 10 and a duck the only other visits to the crease.

The 151 in the previous round, against Hyderabad, remains his highest first-class score and brought him the player-of-the-match award in a drawn game. He also made a century on first-class debut, against Madhya Pradesh in the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy.

From the Mushtaq Ali Trophy to the IPL

Arora's rise came through T20 cricket. In the 2025-26 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy he made 125 not out from 45 balls against Jharkhand and finished with 358 runs from eight innings at a strike rate of 198.88, his 28 sixes the second most in the tournament.

Sunrisers Hyderabad signed him for Rs 1.5 crore before IPL 2026, and he played 14 matches in his first season there, making 156 runs at a strike rate of 159.18 in a finisher's role.

"If I want to play for India, I know I have to keep improving my performance and develop my skills from here. I want to perform well in white-ball cricket and in the IPL. If I can perform consistently in the IPL, hopefully I can put myself in a position to play for India," Arora told ANI in September.

Andhra still waiting to bat

Harpreet Brar was bowled by Tripurana Vijay for 12 to make it 511 for 8, after which Emanjot Singh Chahal and Sukhdeep Bajwa carried Punjab past 550 unbeaten.

Andhra's bowlers have been given little relief. Saurabh Kumar has sent down more than 40 overs for his single wicket, and Kavuri Saiteja's three wickets all came inside the first 16 overs.

Sanvir Singh made a century on his own first-class debut against the same opposition, in November 2018, the season Punjab first picked him.

Scorecard: Punjab 577 for 8 in 154 overs (Sanvir Singh 205, Salil Arora 144) against Andhra, day two of the Elite Group B match at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, New Chandigarh.

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