Date:19/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/19/stories/2008111961822200.htm

Sport - Cricket

Balaji scalps five as Tamil Nadu wins

Sports Reporter

— Photo: Sandeep Saxena

HIGH-FIVES: Balaji and his teammates celebrate the fall of Prashant Gupta.

GHAZIABAD: Laxmipathy Balaji’s incisive bowling proved too good for Uttar Pradesh as Tamil Nadu posted an innings victory over the home side in its Ranji Trophy Super League Group B match at the Jawahar Lal Nehru Cricket Stadium here on Tuesday.

After skipper Dinesh Karthik (213) hit his maiden double hundred to guide the visitors to 507 in the first innings and gain a huge lead of 357 runs, Balaji came up with a five-wicket haul to help Tamil Nadu win the match by an innings and 238 runs.

Tamil Nadu took six points, including a bonus point, from this win, to tally 12 points from three matches.

Tamil Nadu coach W.V. Raman was pleased with the effort. “We needed this outright win or else it would have been deflating. We couldn’t finish the job in the last two outings. It is good now that the bowlers believe it can be done. It makes a complete job with batsmen also getting runs.”

Needing a few responsible knocks to avoid an innings defeat, Uttar Pradesh again stumbled after a decent start in its second innings. Tanmay Srivastava and Shivakant Shukla played with maturity to gather 36 runs for the opening stand before C. Ganapathy drew first blood by claiming Shukla.

Balaji, who hit the right areas and got enough swing to trouble the home batsmen, struck in quick succession to castle Prashant Gupta and Srivastava. After Parvinder Singh edged one to Karthik, the former India seamer trapped Praveen Gupta in front and went through Sudeep Tyagi’s defence to complete his five-wicket haul and return match figures of nine for 80. Earlier, his 20-ball 25 with the bat had helped his team get past the 500-run mark.

In the morning session, Karthik, who played watchfully on the first two days, comfortably scored runs all around the park. He completed 3,000 first class runs when he reached 163 and later went on to get his double century.

The scores: Uttar Pradesh — 1st innings: 150.

Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: A. Mukund c I. Ahmad b B. Kumar 0, A. Karthick c M.A. Khan b B. Kumar 18, S. Badrinath st. M.A. Khan b P. Gupta 123, D. Karthik c Prashant Gupta b P. Gupta 213, S. Vidyut c R. Shukla b S. Tyagi 44, S. Suresh c S. Shukla b S. Tyagi 16, R. Ashwin c P. Chawla b P. Gupta 33, C. Ganapathy c I. Ahmad b P. Gupta 20, C. Suresh lbw b P. Chawla 4, L. Balaji c Parvinder Singh b P. Chawla 25, P. Amarnath (not out) 0, Extras (lb-5, nb-2, wd-4) 11; Total (in 153.1 overs) 507.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-41, 3-254, 4-347, 5-375, 6-441, 7-466, 8-471, 9-507.

Uttar Pradesh bowling: B. Kumar 30-6-77-2, S. Tyagi 28-8-83-2, I. Ahmad 27-4-86-0, P. Chawla 35-3-133-2, P. Gupta 33.1-0-123-4.

Uttar Pradesh — 2nd innings: T. Srivastava b Balaji 22, S. Shukla c Mukund b Ganapathy 21, Prashant Gupta b Balaji 4, R. Shukla lbw b Ashwin 8, P. Singh c Badrinath b Balaji 22, B. Kumar c Dinesh Karthik b Ganapathy 5, P. Chawla c Balaji b Ganapathy 4, M. Amir Khan b Ganpathy 4, P. Gupta lbw b Balaji 8, I. Ahmed (not out) 13, S. Tyagi b Balaji 1, Extras (b-4, lb-1, wd-1, nb-1) 7, Total (in 43 overs) 119.

Fall of wickets: 1-36, 2-47, 3-52, 4-67, 5-88, 6-88, 7-94, 8-97, 9-117.

Tamil Nadu bowling: Balaji 12-2-42-5, Amarnath 11-4-31-0, Ganapathy 10-3-21-4, Ashwin 10-3-20-1.