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Uttar Pradesh take control with big lead
Uttar Pradesh tightened the noose around hosts Assam on the penultimate day of their Ranji quarterfinal, establishing an overall second-innings lead of 320, reports Sharad Deep.
Uttar Pradesh tightened the noose around hosts Assam on the penultimate day of their Ranji quarterfinal, establishing an overall second-innings lead of 320.
Enjoying a solid 64-run first-innings lead, Uttar Pradesh's batsmen filled their boots to reach 256 for nine in the second innings, on a tricky pitch in Maligaon.
When bad light stopped play four overs before the scheduled close, UP's last pair of Praveen Gupta (17) and Shalabh Srivastava (6) were at the crease.
Unlike on Friday, the weather was perfect for cricket and wickets fell at regular intervals. UP were reduced to 100 for three at lunch, but Piyush Chawla and Rohit Prakash steadied the innings, stitching together 66 for the seventh-wicket to help UP cross 200.
Though Chawla was struck twice on his gloves by Ranjit Mali after tea, he didn't lose focus and drove, cut and pulled the bowlers to the fence.
Assam skipper Amol Mazumdar took the new ball in the 81st over and with the very first ball Dhiraj Goswami sent Rohit Prakash (42) back to the pavilion with a swinging delivery.
But Chawla continued to dominate the bowlers and completed his third half-century of the season.
The strange behaviour of the pitch continued to puzzle UP's batsmen.
Both Shivakant Shukla and Mohammad Kaif got out to rising deliveries, while opener Tanmay Srivastava couldn't keep out a Ranjit Mali delivery, and same thing happened to Bhuvaneshwar Kumar off Dhiraj Goswami.
Parvinder Singh tried to negotiate difficult deliveries, throwing his bat around, striking two boundaries in his 25. But Srivastav was cool. His 146-ball 49 came in 214 minutes.
