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U.P. on the verge of victory

Special Correspondent

Saurashtra falters chasing a small target of 162
Dhruv finishes with five wickets

Baroda: Sitanshu Kotak stood between Uttar Pradesh and victory in the Ranji Trophy semifinal at the Motibagh Palace ground here on Sunday. For the second day running, the batsmen found the pitch awkward to deal with as 19 wickets fell. The Saurashtra spinners skittled out Uttar Pradesh for 100 in the second innings but seamer Sudeep Tyagi sent down a fiery nine over opening spell to bring his team back in the game. Gaining a handy first innings lead of 62 runs, Uttar Pradesh started well with Suresh Raina punishing medium pacer Kanaiya Waghela and left-arm spinner Rakesh Dhruv for five fours and fine six, but once he fell to off-spinner Kamlesh Makwana’s first ball, Uttar Pradesh lost its way and folded up for 100 in three hours and eight minutes. Dhruv ended the day with an impressive tally of five wickets for 20 runs.

Saurashtra faltered chasing a small target of 162, losing skipper Jaydev Shah and Waghela to Tyagi. Tyagi captured the crucial wicket of Cheteshwar Pujara forcing the right hander to nick a rising ball down the leg side to keeper Amir Khan.

Chairman of the selection committee Dilip Vengsarkar, who saw Tyagi in action in the Bengal-Uttar Pradesh league match, felt Tyagi was a fine prospect. Tyagi now has a total of 38 wickets this season. Saurashtra’s victory bid will largely depend on the support Kotak gets from Makwana and from the tail-enders, Sandeep Jobanputra and Sandip Maniar. The eighth wicket pair has already added 30 runs.

The scores:

Uttar Pradesh — 1st innings: 188

Saurashtra — 1st innings: K. Vaghela c Kaif b P. Kumar 0, J. Shah lbw b Tyagi 57, S. Kotak lbw b P. Kumar 0, C. Pujara b Tyagi 2, S. Jogiyani b P. Kumar 14, N. Rathod c Shukla b B. Kumar 4, F. Bhambaniya lbw b B. Kumar 0, R. Dhruv lbw b P. Kumar 26, K. Makwana b Tyagi 0, S. Jobanputra b Tyagi 17, S. Maniar (not out) 4, Extras (b-1, lb-2): 3, Total (in 37.3 overs): 127

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-4, 3-7, 4-38, 5-61, 6-61, 7-87, 8-88, 9-121.

Uttar Pradesh bowling: P. Kumar 12.3-4-40-4, Tyagi 13-2-49-4, B. Kumar 6-0-23-2, Chawla 6-2-12-0.

Uttar Pradesh — 2nd innings: R. Prakash lbw b Maniar 14, A. Khan b Dhruv 22, S. Raina lbw b Makwana 25, M. Kaif c Jogiyani b Makwana 8, R. Shukla c Kotak b Dhruv 0, P. Chawla c Dhruv b Jobanputra 10, B. Kumar b Dhruv 5, P. Kumar b Dhruv 2, R. Elahi b Dhruv 5, P. Gupta c Jogiyani b Maniar 1, S. Tyagi (not out) 0, Extras, (b-4, lb-2, nb-2): 8, Total (in 44.1 overs): 100.

Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-59, 3-67, 4-69, 5-79, 6-82, 7-86, 8-99, 9-100.

Saurashtra bowling: Jobanputra 12-5-20-1, Maniar 10.2-5-20-2, Vaghela 3-0-20-0, Dhruv 14-7-20-5, Makwana 5-1-14-2.

Saurashtra — 2nd innings: S. Jogiyani lbw b B. Kumar 13, J. Shah c A. Khan b Tyagi 0, K. Waghela c Amir b Tyagi 0, C. Pujara c Amir b Tyagi 9, S. Kotak (batting) 41, N. Rathod c Raina b P. Kumar 13, R. Dhruv c & b P. Gupta 1, F. Bhambaniya lbw b P. Kumar 0, K. Makwana (batting) 9, Extras (b-1, lb-4, w-2): 7, Total (for seven wkts. in 45 overs): 93.

Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-2, 3-25, 4-25, 5-49, 6-50, 7-63.

Uttar Pradesh bowling: P. Kumar 15-1-39-2, Tyagi 14-5-24-3, B. Kumar 8-2-12-1, Gupta 5-2-10-1, Chawla 2-0-3-0.

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