Sport - Cricket

Praveen Kumar rocks Gujarat

VADODARA: Uttar Pradesh medium-pacers, led by India international Praveen Kumar (five for 29), shot Gujarat out for a meagre 117 in 40.2 overs thus clinching the all-important first innings lead of 188 runs in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal at Motibaug Stadium here on Saturday.

However, U.P., instead of asking Gujarat to follow-on, decided to bat.

At the end of the second day’s play, U.P. was 76 for one in 25 overs.

Suresh Raina was at his punishing best smacking four boundaries and a six in his unbeaten 29, with Tanmay Srivastava giving him company at 42.

Earlier, resuming at 242 for six, U.P. was all out for 305.

Praveen Kumar bamboozled the Gujarat top order and along with Imtiyaz Ahmed (three for 32) and Bhuvneshwer Kumar (two for 43), dealt crippling blows at regular intervals.

In-form batsmen Bhavik Thaker, skipper Parthiv Patel and Nilesh Modi were all at sea.

Praveen had opener Panchal off the third ball of his second over and in his fourth over trapped Nilesh Modi in front. His partner Bhuvneshwer Kumar accounted for skipper Parthiv Patel and at lunch Gujarat was tottering at 14 for three.

Playing his third match of the season, Imtiyaz Ahmed, who came in for the injured R.P. Singh, wiped out the tail.

Ashraf Makda swung his bat a bit and smacked a couple of boundaries and sixes. But diminutive Timil Patel hung around till the end with a crafty unbeaten 43.

The scores: Uttar Pradesh — 1st innings: S. Shukla (run out) 42, T. Srivastava c Parthiv Patel b Makda 1, S. Rania c Sunny Patel b Timil Patel 93, M. Kaif (run out) 2, Parvinder Singh c Parthiv b Makda 64, Bhuvneswar Singh b Parmar 29, P. Chawla c Amit Singh b Makda 15, Amir Khan c S. Patel b Trivedi 0, Praveen Kumar c Parthiv b Amit Singh 25, P. Gupta (not out) 17, I. Ahmed st Parthiv b Parmar 7; Extras (lb-6, nb-1, w-3): 10. Total (in 112.5 overs): 305.

Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-108, 3-124, 4-160, 5-210, 6-238, 7-243, 8-272, 9-288.

Gujarat bowling: Trivedi 26-6-84-1, Makda 22-9-40-3, Amit Singh 19-8-43-1, Parmar 31.5-9-74-2, Timil Patel 14-2-58-1.

Gujarat — 1st innings: N. Modi lbw b Praveen Kumar 9, P. Panchal c Amir Khan b Praveen 0, N. Patel c Kaif b Praveen 14, Parthiv b Bhuvneshwer 2, Sunny Patel c Amir b Bhuvneshwer 10, Timil Patel (not out) 43, B. Thaker lbw b Praveen 0, M. Parmar c Amir Khan b Imtiyaz 1, A. Makda b Imtiyaz 22, Amit Singh c Raina b Imtiyaz 5, S. Trivedi b Praveen 7; Extras (nb-3, w-1): 4. Total (in 40.2 overs): 117.

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-10, 3-14, 4-32, 5-47, 6-47, 7-48, 8-82, 9-96.

UP bowling: Praveen 13.2-3-29-5, Bhuvneshwer 12-1-43-2, Imtiyaz 11-3-32-3, Chawla 4-1-13-0.

UP — 2nd innings: S. Shukla lbw b Makda 4, T. Srivastava (batting) 42, S. Raina (batting) 29; Extra (w-1): 1. Total (for one wkt. in 25 overs): 76.

Fall of wicket: 1-15.

Gujarat bowling: Trivedi 4-2-9-0, Makda 5-1-15-1, Amit Singh 6-1-14-0, Parmar 7-2-16-0, Timil Patel 3-0-22-0.

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