Date:29/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/29/stories/2008122959491600.htm

Sport - Cricket

U.P. batsmen make merry

J.R. Shridharan

VADODARA: Uttar Pradesh finished the penultimate day’s proceedings on a resounding note, notching up 289 for eight against Gujarat in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal at Motibaug Stadium here on Sunday. U.P. is ahead by 477 runs.

Parmar’s toil bears fruit

On a day, when the U.P. batsmen made merry, Gujarat bowlers toiled hard, but in vain. The only significant performance was by the 21-year-old off-spinner Mohnish Parmar, who bowled unchanged for 28 overs and claimed four for 93.

On a slow wicket, which offered not much spin it was a hard day’s outing for both Parmar and leggie Timil Patel.

Resuming at 76 for one, Suresh Raina added just two runs before he fell victim to Parmar. Tanmay Srivastava (67, 202m, 149b, 4x4) played a patient knock but a doosra from Parmar saw the end of his gritty innings.

Mohd. Kaif (46), who had a miserable outing in the first innings, stayed put in the middle for 119 minutes, before Parmar had him trapped in front.

After lunch, Parmar unleashed yet another doosra flummoxing Parvinder Singh. Keen to wrap up the U.P. innings, Gujarat skipper Parthiv Patel took the new ball immediately after tea, but the medium pacers failed to accomplish the task.

Amir Khan and Praveen Kumar went hammer and tongs at the bowlers. Praveen Kumar slammed five fours and a six in his unbeaten 30. He smacked 14 runs in one Parmar over that included a huge six over mid-wicket.

“We will continue to bat tomorrow and then try to bowl out Gujarat cheaply,” said U.P. coach Gyanander Pandey.

The scores:

Uttar Pradesh — 1st innings: 305.

Gujarat — 1st innings: 117.

Uttar Pradesh — 2nd innings: S. Shukla lbw b Makda 4, T. Srivastava b Parmar 67, S. Raina b Makda 31, M. Kaif lbw b Parmar 46, Parvinder Singh c Parthiv b Parmar 22, Bhuvneshwer Kumar c Parthiv b Parmar 27, P. Chawla c Modi b Amit Singh 24, Praveen Kumar c Amit Singh b Timil Patel 0, Amit Khan (batting) 29, P. Gupta (batting) 30; Extras (b-5, lb-3, w-1): 9. Total (for eight wkts in 115 overs): 289.

Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-78, 3-131, 4-162, 5-171, 6-209, 7-210, 8-229.

Gujarat bowling: Trivedi 6-4-9-0, Makda 18-5-46-2, Amit Singh 29-13-68-1, Parmar 38-12-93-4, Timil Patel 16-5-45-1, Panchal 7-3-15-0, Sunny Patel 1-0-5-0.

Corrections and Clarifications

A cricket report on a Ranji Trophy quarterfinal, "U.P. batsmen make merry" ("Sport", December 29, 2008), said Praveen Kumar went hammer and tongs at the bowlers, slamming five fours and a six in his unbeaten 30. The scorecard showed Praveen Kumar out for 0 while Praveen Gupta was on 30. It was Praveen Gupta who went hammer and tongs with his 30!