On winning the toss at the Karnail Singh Stadium at Delhi Punjab skipper Vikram Rathour saw the chance to pile up a big score and put pressure on Railways. He had at his disposal a list of good young batsmen trying hard to make a mark in the game. Not least in that list was opener Ravneet Ricky.

Although he had shown in the past that he could play long innings, it became crucial that he concentrated hard on this occasion. As the wickets began to tumble around him, Ricky defied the Railways bowlers with a straight bat. In the company of Yuvraj Singh, Ricky to Punjab towards safety. After he had made a reasonably quick 54, Yuvraj perished against the off breaks of Devendra Singh. After Yuvraj was dismissed, none of the Punjab batsmen were upto the task of taking on the Railways bowlers.

Apart from Ravneet Ricky. The young opener soldiered on bravely even as no one else made it to the 50 mark. Kulamani Parida bowling his off breaks managed to snare 6 Punjab batsmen, the last of them being Ravneet Ricky. When Ricky fell, Punjab had 216 on the board.

Ricky was unlucky to fall, just three runs short of the century mark. His innings was a patient one. Although Ricky is a batsman who like to play his strokes, he is also more than capable of playing watchful innings. His 97 set up a big win for Punjab. The 355 they made was well beyond the reach of Railways. Good bowling efforts from Navdeep Singh, Sharandeep Singh and Harbhajan Singh saw Punjab win the match by an innings and 64 runs.

Once again it was Ricky's innings that laid the foundation for a famous victory.