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Smooth sailing for Uttar Pradesh
With every run that the last pair of Praveen Gupta and Shalabh Srivastava scored at the NFR Sports Stadium on Sunday, the smile on Mohd Kaif's face got wider, reports Sharad Deep.
With every run that the last pair of Praveen Gupta and Shalabh Srivastava scored at the NFR Sports Stadium on Sunday, the smile on Mohd Kaif's face got wider.
The Uttar Pradesh skipper knew chasing in excess of 300, against one of the best bowling attacks in the domestic circuit, wasn't going to be easy for Assam.
He was proved right, as UP had little trouble in making it to the Ranji Trophy semi-finals for the third consecutive year by virtue of their first innings lead.
Assam skipper Amol Muzumdar struck a season's best, an unbeaten 119, but failed to lift his side's spirits as they finished at 259 for eight while chasing 337.
Openers Amit Sinha and Parviz Aziz began with a bang with the latter smashing a boundary each off RP Singh and Shalabh Srivastava to take the score to 21 in four overs. RP got even when a sharp in-swinger ended Aziz's stay. Sinha followed after being trapped leg before by Gupta.
Promoting Dhiraj Goswami (3) and Tarjinder Singh (3) did not yield much as Assam were 84 for four at lunch.
Kunal Saikia, in the company of Muzumdar, raised hopes with a 77-ball 39. They stitched an 83-run stand for the fifth-wicket before Saikia's smash off Gupta landed in Tanmay Srivastava's hands. After being let off by Kaif in the slips on 51, Muzumdar kept the scoreboard ticking with ones, twos and occasional boundaries. At tea, the hosts were 207 for five.
Assam changed gears when Sairaj Bahutule went after Gupta in the first over after tea. Muzumdar completed his century off a single in a Piyush Chawla over. The duo added 62 for the seventh-wicket before Bahutule was run out in the 77th over. Abu Nachim Ahmed followed in the next over and Assam's hopes evaporated.
