Chhattisgarh blundered in the crunch moments on Wednesday and sabotaged its own escape, handing Punjab a seven-wicket win in their Ranji Trophy second-round fixture at the New PCA Stadium in New Chandigarh.

Ayush Pandey (111, 252, 16x4, 2x6) was singlehandedly stalling Punjab’s charge by picking on the spinners in the morning session.

Gurnoor Brar’s bouncer sent back Amandeep Khare, who was struck on his left arm and had to retire hurt.

Harjas Tandon castled Vikalp Tiwari on one, but Rahul Pradhan channeled his on-side range to pick quick runs. He swept and paddle swept Harjas for boundaries before the off-spinner dragged a delivery shorter and quicker, forcing a leading edge to mid-on and ending the partnership on 57.

The sucker punch came one over later, minutes before Lunch, as Pandey threw away his work in wanting a hasty single. He tapped to substitute Ramandeep Singh at mid-on but was sent back from half-way down by his partner Ajay Mandal (45, 61, 7x4).

Chhattisgarh found second wind in Dharmendra Jadeja (47, 80b, 3x4, 2x6) and Mandal’s partnership that lasted 21 overs and brought the side 84 runs. Jadeja did not digress from the go-to option of the day, sweeping abundantly for boundaries. The shot earned him two maximums over deep midwicket off Harpreet.

In an attempt to emulate the approach, Mandal made the error of not covering the line and was castled around his legs.

Khare returned despite an injured arm to hold one end. However, when Chhattisgarh needed Jadeja to assess his options, he was bowled on an mis-executed sweep off Harjas, leaving Punjab with an entire session to get 86 runs.

Jadeja and Mandal nabbed the openers within the opening four overs but it was hardly enough for a late twist.

Uday Saharan took the wheel with his unbeaten 40 and was once again joined by Salil Arora in steadying the ship and taking the team to its destination.

The scores: Punjab — 1st innings: 456.

Chhattisgarh — 1st innings: 206.

Chhattisgarh — 2nd innings: Ayush Pandey run out 111, Sanidhya Hurkat c Vihaan b Emanjot 25, Ashutosh Singh lbw b Emanjot 0, Sanjeet Desai b Harpreet 0, Amandeep Khare lbw b Emanjot 62, Vikalp Tiwari b Harjas 1, Rahul Pradhan c Emanjot b Harjas 35, Ajay Mandal b Harpreet 45, Dharmendra Jadeja b Harjas 47, Dev Aditya Singh c Vihaan b Gurnoor 0, Sandeep Warrier (not out) 1; Extras (b-4, nb-4): 8; Total (in 116.2 overs): 335.

Fall of wickets: 1-48, 2-48, 3-49, 4-176, 5-233, 6-233, 7-317, 8-318, 9-334.

Punjab bowling: Gurnoor 9-0-34-1, Harpreet 38-8-117-2, Harjas 29-7-92-3, Emanjot 23.2-8-45-3, Vihaan 4-0-15-0, Uday 5-3-3-0, Umesh 7-1-16-0, Shubman Gill 1-0-9-0.

Punjab — 2nd innings: Vihaan Malhotra lbw b Dharmendra 6, Harnoor Pannu c Sanjeet b Ajay 6, Uday Saharan (not out) 40, Prabhsimran Singh c Sanidhya b Dharmendra 24, Salil (not out) 10; Total (for three wkts. in 16.5 overs): 86.

Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-14, 3-47.

Chhattisgarh bowling: Dharmendra 8.5-0-40-2, Ajay 6-0-31-1, Vikalp 2-0-15-0.