The Hindu : Sport : Mohd. Kaif puts U.P. on course

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 30, 2006

Sport

Sport

Mohd. Kaif puts U.P. on course

Rakesh Rao

— Photo: R.V. Moorthy

UNLUCKY MISS: Mohammad Kaif missed a certain century after failing to read a Shivsagar Singh delivery.

LUCKNOW: Bengal was left to lick its wounds and rue three dropped catches as Uttar Pradesh made the most of the reprieves for a highly rewarding opening day of the Ranji Trophy final on Sunday.

Aided by three half centuries and a century stand, UP was 299 for three at stumps and looking good to add to the gains of winning the toss on a surface that lacks bounce. Skipper Mohammad Kaif missed out on a well-deserved century but put his team firmly on way to a formidable first innings total at the K. D. Singh Babu Stadium.

In spite of a punishing day at work, Bengal skipper Deep Dasgupta put up a brave front and did not think that UP had got away too far. "The pitch is holding well and I know we have the batsmen to do the job. Of course, we could have done better."

If could have indeed been a better day for Bengal had Subhomoy Das not floored a regulation first-slip catch off Ranadeb Bose when the flamboyant makeshift opener Praveen Kumar was on five. Praveen, the only cricketer from a family of wrestlers, clearly won the combat with the Bengal new-ball bowlers and smashed a six and five boundaries in his entertaining cameo of 48 before falling in off-spinner Sourasish Lahiri's first over.

Kaif delights

Thereafter, Kaif's rightfully held the centre-stage for the better part of the day. He played some delectable shots on either side of the pitch and delighted a couple of thousand die-hard fans who preferred to watch him bat instead of following the third Indo-Pak Test on television. Barring the

`life' he enjoyed at 22 when Manoj Tiwari dropped a low catch at second slip off medium pacer Shib Shankar Paul, the UP skipper was in control during his 158-ball innings. As is his wont, Kaif timed his shots well and kept them in the gaps to find nine boundaries. He stepped out to hoist left-arm spinner Sibsagar Singh for two sixes.

Kaif missed his first century of the season when he failed to read the turn off Singh and was bowled in his attempt to play a forward defensive stroke outside the leg-stump. The innings improved Kaif's highest for the season by one run but that was of little consolation for missing a big one here.

Earlier, Kaif's two partnerships with the left-handers Shivakant Shukla and Suresh Raina kept UP on the right track. Shukla's timing stood out and his stroke-selection was just right. He looked particularly impressive while playing in front of the wicket. His innings dotted with 10 boundaries ended when he failed to clear Rohan Gavaskar at mid-off.

In came Raina and straightaway settled down to remind everyone that he was the man in form. With 478 runs in eight innings leading to the final, this stylish local lad collected, like Kaif, his fourth half century of the season. He was indeed fortunate to have been dropped by Arindam Das when on 28 off Paul. With Kaif being the sobering influence at the other end, Raina did not put a foot wrong for the remainder of the day. Following Kaif's departure, after the duo had put on 63 runs, the presence of an experienced Rizwan Shamshad helped Raina stay focussed.

The Bengal bowlers looked most ordinary on the track that offered little. With the fielders not providing ample support, the bowlers could not be blamed entirely. But then, UP's first innings is far from over.

The scores:

Uttar Pradesh — 1st innings: P. Kumar c Arindam b Lahiri 48, S. Shukla c Gavaskar b Singh 71, M. Kaif b Singh 92, S. Raina (batting) 61, R. Shamshad (batting) 18, Extras (b-3, lb-4, nb-2) 9, Total (for three wickets in 90 overs) 299.

Fall of wickets: 1-72, 2-195, 3-258.

Bengal bowling: S. S. Paul 27-3-88-0, R. Bose 15-2-51-0, L. R. Shukla 2-0-8-0, S. Lahiri 19-3-61-1, S. S. Singh 24-4-61-2, A. Jhunjhunwala 1-0-13-0, M. Tiwari 1-0-5-0, R. Gavaskar 1-0-5-0.

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