The Hindu : Advantage U.P.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 29, 2002

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Advantage U.P.

Chennai Nov. 28. Experienced paceman Aashish Winston Zaidi, bowling with much heart to claim five wickets, emerged the hero for Uttar Pradesh as Tamil Nadu, chasing 305 for the lead, was left struggling at 238 for nine, when stumps were drawn on the second day of their Ranji Trophy `Elite group `B' encounter at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, here, on Thursday.

Zaidi, jolted the host at the start, and, in the final stages of the day, struck with the second new ball, taken after 84 overs. U.P. has the advantage, but there could be some interesting cricket left in this duel.

For the host though, the young wicket-keeper batsman, Dinesh Kaarthick, displaying admirable temperament in the face of much adversity, remained unbeaten on 76 (134b, 12x4), and there was a well-deserved, warm round of applause for him from a small gathering as he walked back.

Kaarthick, trooping in at No. 7, defended with a broad blade, stroked fluently through the covers, flicked with panache, revealed a maturity far exceeding his age, and set an example to his more senior colleagues on way to a maiden Ranji half-century.

Apart from Kaarthick's fine effort, and a useful hand from middle-order batsman J.R. Madanagopal (42, 3x4, 1x6), little went right for Tamil Nadu on a day when the Uttar Pradesh bowlers operated with much discipline. When application was the need of the hour, `the mainstays' in the Tamil Nadu batting line-up were found wanting.

Zaidi made the early inroads, with openers Sadagopan Ramesh and S. Suresh, not contributing much, the former miscuing a pull to Ansal Kapoor at square-leg, and the latter, nicking an away going delivery to `keeper Javed Anwar.

Soon, Hemang Badani departed without bothering the scorers, touching a Zaidi delivery that lifted and left him, to Anwar's gloves, and at 40 for three, Tamil Nadu had a recovery job on hand. Zaidi's first spell read 10-3-26-3, and he was well supported by Ratnesh Mishra, desperately unlucky not to be among the wickets himself.

Southpaws, S. Sriram and S. Sharath, the two in-form batsmen, appeared to be bailing their side out of trouble, when Sriram (29) perished to a `run out', Ansal , from short-square-leg, combining with Anwar to effect the dismissal.

And 68 minutes after lunch, Mishra, drew Sharath (21) into a fatal drive with `the slower one', for Praveen Gupta to take a splendid catch at covers - a prize scalp for U.P. Mishra, getting close to the stumps, and delivering those lovely outswingers, was particularly impressive in his post-lunch spell from the Wallajah Road end. Debutant left-arm spinner Praveen Kumar, who settled into a nice rhythm, demanded attention from the pavilion endThe scores:

Uttar Pradesh — 1st innings: 304

Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: S. Suresh c Anwar b Zaidi 15; S. Ramesh c Ansal b Zaidi 13; S. Sriram (run out) 29; H. Badani c Anwar b Zaidi 0; S. Sharath c Gupta b Mishra 21; J.R. Madanagopal b Gupta 42; D. Kaarthick c Anwar b Chopra 15; Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan c Anwar b Chopra 15; D.J. Gokulakrishnan lbw b Zaidi 16; M.R. Shrinivas b Zaidi 0; L. Balaji (not out) 4; Extras (lb-6, b-1) 7; Total (for nine wkts.) 238.

Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-40, 3-40, 4-77, 5-106, 6-140, 7-175, 8-210, 9-210.

Uttar Pradesh bowling: Zaidi 29-7-56-5; Mishra 25-5-71-1; Chopra 19-5-35-1; Gupta 18-1-57-1; Saif 2-0-12-0.

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