Punjab took on hosts Hyderabad at the Gymkhana Ground in Secunderabad in a Ranji Trophy game in February 1999. It was Hyderabad's first outing in the Super League while Punjab had struggled to salvage three points in an earlier encounter against Rajasthan. The visitors were well stocked in the batting department but there was a question mark over their bowling. In the absence of Harbhajan Singh, much was expected from rookie off spinner Sarandeep Singh who was playing just his third game in first class cricket.

Hyderabad won the toss and electing to bat, were in some discomfort at 206/7 when stumps were drawn on the first day. Sarandeep had grabbed three of those scalps: opener Arvind Shetty, middle order bat Vinay Kumar and all rounder Jogam Yadav, and finished with figures of 3/77 as the hosts settled at 260. For Punjab, only two batsmen got more than 26 - Vikram Rathour (99) and Harminder Jagnu (90) - but that was enough to compile a useful first innings lead of 57.

By the end of the third day, Hyderabad had nullified the advantage by coasting to 166/2, a lead of 109, with Nandakishore and Vinay Kumar seemingly in full cry. But they had reckoned without Sarandeep as their last eight wickets plummeted for 67, the off spinner claiming five of them in an incisive spell. He cleaned up both overnight batsmen as well as wicketkeeper Youraj Singh, all snaffled by Sanjay Kumar, and then returned to drive the final nails in the coffin by taking out skipper Venkatapathy Raju and NP Singh. Hyderabad stumbled to 233 with Sarandeep claiming innings figures of 5/58 and a match haul of 8/135.

Punjab were left with the task of chasing 176 in fifty odd overs to close out the match on the fourth and final day. They started well enough with Rathour and Navjot Sidhu adding a frenetic 88 for the first wicket in 17 overs. But then another off spinner almost 20 years Sarandeep's senior, Kanwaljit Singh, aided and abetted by left arm spinner Raju, scythed through Punjab's batting for 152 as Hyderabad ran out narrow victors by 24 runs. The Punjab batsmen had robbed Sarandeep of a memorable moment in his still nascent career.