The second new ball, claimed after 84 overs with the total on 276 for five, did the trick for Delhi whose bowlers otherwise struggled all along to get wickets on the docile Kotla wicket. From a comfortable-looking 283 for five, Punjab tumbled to 309 for nine in the space of three overs, medium pacers Nitin Aggarwal (3 for 68) and Amandeep Singh (2 for 80) doing the damage.

Earlier, Binwant Singh and Hari Kishan Kali (41: 6x4, 80m) added 60 for the third wicket and then Binwant and Sodhi consolidated the position with a 116-run stand for the fourth wicket.

Sodhi, who had scored 92 against Himachal Pradesh in the earlier game, was in a punishing mood and was severe on all the Delhi bowlers.

Punjab, who are playing their final league game, have so far collected eight points each against Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal and five against Haryana.

Punjab (1st Innings): Manik Kohli c Deepender Singh Bola b Puneet Sharma 14; Binwant Singh c Tony Singh b Abhishek Sharma 74; Rajan Singh b Nitin Aggarwal b 0; Hari Kishan Kali c Tony Singh b Rajiv Uniyal 41; Vikramjeet Sodhi c Sanjay Kumar b Abhishek Sharma 77; Chandan Madan b Amandeep Singh 54; Ravjeet Singh c Deepender Bola b Nitin Aggarwal 19; Rajiv Jolly b Nitin Aggarwal 11; Aman Sood b Amandeep Singh 0; Vikramjeet Singh batting 0; Harish Puri batting 5.
Extras: 19; Total: (for 9 wkts, 90 overs): 314.
Fall of wickets: 1-44, 2-45, 3-105, 4-221, 5-254, 6-283, 7-309, 80309, 9-309.
Bowling: Nitin Aggarwal 22-9-68-3, Amandeep Singh 18-1-80-2, Puneet Sharma 9-3-20-1, Tony Singh 15-4-44-0, Abhishek Sharma 20-1-67-2, Rajiv Uniyal 4-0-20-1, Kunal Bhardwaj 2-0-4-0.