da 888casino： A disciplined bowling performance and a rollicking start in the run chase saw Rest of India march inexorably towards victory by the end of the second day
The Bulletin by Sriram Veera10-Oct-2006End of innings
Scorecard
How they were outA disciplined bowling performance and a rollicking start in the run chase saw Rest of India march inexorably towards victory by the end of the second day. ROI hustled out Uttar Pradesh for a meagre 166, before setting off in style in pursuit of the 114 runs needed for victory. Wasim Jaffer and Gautam Gambhir racked up 45 in no time and barring a minor miracle, ROI was all set to lift the Irani Trophy.UP’s collapse began after Zaheer Khan removed Praveen Kumar for a first-ball duck and Tanmay Srivastava committed hara-kiri by running himself out. Lakshmipathy Balaji prised out Shivakant Shukla, the first-innings top scorer, to rock the top order before VRV Singh harassed the lower-middle order with his pace and lift. ROI’s march was only briefly stymied by a late-orderresistance between Jyoti Yadav and Amir Khan. The duo stitched together a55-run partnership – third highest of the match, for the seventh wicket toput up a semblance of fight but that might have succeeded in only delaying theinevitable.Earlier, Subramaniam Badrinath was left stranded , twenty runs short of adeserved hundred, but his 46-run partnership for the last wicket withPragyan Ojha was enough to steer ROI to a vital 53-run lead. In thecontext of the low-scoring game and coupled with the fact that UttarPradesh’s strike bowler, Ashish Winston Zaidi was indisposed, it proved bea valuable lead.It was a day when ROI’s bowlers incessantly kept the pressureon, and the wickets came surprisingly quickly on a pitch that was stillnot unplayable. ROI’s attack was on the money and maintained a consistentline and length during the early passage of play, with Zaheer, inparticular, being nippy. With the UP batsmen almost eager to combust, Zaheer and Balaji kept it simple. Invariably, with three slipsand a gully prowling, the ball would land on a length in the channelaround the off stump, and push the edgy batsmen towards making the fatalwaft. After Kumar, who had dazzled with a 59-ball 42 in the first essay,perished, poking outside the off stump, and Tanmay was run out by a direct hit by Gautam Gambhir, Shivakant and Ravikant Shukla held firm. However, just afternoon, Ravikant was given out when he poked at a Zaheer delivery and Balajimoved one away to catch the outside edge of Shivakant to lift ROI’sspirits.Vikram Singh came on to his own in the second session, mixing his back-of- length deliveries with a few well-directed short-pitched balls. Hepushed Rizwan Shamshad – who promised much more than the meagre 10 hemanaged – back with a bumper and extracted a weak slash off the next onethat was pitched on a length.But his harassment of Gyanendra Pandey was the highlight of the secondsession. He repeatedly pinged Pandey, who looked to be perennially late inmost of his shots against the seamers, with bouncers at the body andslipped in slanted deliveries on a length that teased the outside edge.But to his credit, Pandey didn’t throw in the towel. He shrugged off threepainful hits to his chest, only calling for the physiotherapist afterSingh was taken off the attack after six incisive overs, and sought reliefand revenge at the other end where a spinner operated. He swung MuraliKartik twice over deep midwicket and square-cut Ojha. However, Kartik hadthe last word – which, in fact, was a shouted thank you to the batsman,when Pandey went for one heave too many and holed out at the deep.Then came the resistance by Jyoti and Amir which, however, might prove to be too little and toolate. While Amir, the slim and wristy wicketkeeper-batsman, took hischances, driving and flicking, Jyoti sewed one end up with a patient effort.He defended stoutly against the seamers – stole five hits to the fencewhen Balaji and Vikram Singh erred. But just when the partnership threatenedto grow into something more substantial, it ended under slightlycontroversial circumstances. Amir steered Balaji to second slip whereMurali Kartik stooped low and came up with a tumbling catch. Amir tarriedbriefly before walking off after getting confirmation from the umpire, whodidn’t refer it to the third eye. However, TV replays seemed to suggestthat the ball might have grazed the ground before settling into Kartik’s palms.Yadav joined his partner soon, when he fell to an acrobatic one-handedcatch by Robin Uthappa at gully. UP’s mutiny was over and Vikram Singh wenton to clean up the tail.ROI, overnight on 131 for 7, looked up to Badrinath to stretch their lead.He started off in a conservative manner, reposing trust in Balaji’sability with the bat. But when Balaji fell chasing a wide one and Singhcombusted on arrival, Badrinath went for the jugular. It was a lovelymixture of conventional and innovative shots, hooks and square-drivesdished out with dollops of cheeky lap shots and steers over slips.UP fell into the age-old quandary, whether to attack the main batsman or solelyconcentrate on taking out the last man. They chose the latter and paid forit. Badrinath not only farmed the strike – refusing to take singles in theearly parts of the over – but also hit out when the field closed in at theend. Ojha grew in confidence and chipped in with useful singles to helprotate the strike before he fell to the spinner Avinash Yadav. By then,however, he had done his bit to push UP on the back foot.Rest of India
Lakshimipathy Balaji c Shamshad b Srivastava 15 (155 for 8)
Vikram Singh b Srivastava 0 (155 for 9)
Pragyan Ojha c Shukla b Avinash Yadav 3 (201)
Uttar Pradesh
P Kumar c Kartik b Khan 0 (0 for 1)
Tanmay Srivastava run out 0 (4 for 2)
Ravikant Shukla c Karthik b Khan 8 (39 for 3)
Shivakant Shukla c Jaffer b Balaji 33 (54 for 4)
Rizwan Shamshad c Karthik b VRV Singh 10 (55 for 5)
Gyanendra Pandey c Zaheer b Kartik 32 (90 for 6)
Amir Khan c Kartik b Balaji 26 (145 for 7)
Avinash Yadav c Karthik b VRV Singh 0 (159 for 8)
Jyoti Yadav c Uthappa b VRV Singh 38 (159 for 9)
Ashish Winston Zaidi b VRV Singh 1 (166)