Suryakant, Damandeep help UP seize initiative
LUCKNOW:Superb bowling by Suryakant and Damandeep Singh helped favourites Uttar Pradesh take a firm grip against hosts Maharashtra on the penultimate day of their four-day Under-16 Vijay Hazare Trophy quarterfinal at Pune on Monday, stretching their first innings lead to 252.
Suryakant took 5/116, whereas Damandeep had 4/85 as Maharashtra got out for 335 in 101 in their first innings. Uttar Pradesh, which had scored 585 in their first innings, were two for zero in one over in their second innings at the draw of stumps on Monday.
Resuming at the overnight score of 33/0, Maharashtra batsmen kept losing wickets in patches as both Suryakant and Damandeep were right on target and didn’t allow the rival batsmen to stay long in the middle.
Opener AS Dharmadhikari scored a well made 93, which came off 193 balls with the help of 14 hits to the fence, whereas UZ Khan (57, 134b, 5x4) and PG Bajari (56, 93b, 9x4, 1x6) contributed good scorers too.
IT’S OVER FOR UP
Finally, it was the end of the road for hosts Uttar Pradesh in the semi-final of the Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy on Monday as Madhya Pradesh advanced to the final on the basis of the first innings lead, at the Green Park stadium in Kanpur. While chasing Uttar Pradesh first innings total of 395, Madhya Pradesh scored 460. Uttar Pradesh declared their second innings at 243/4, setting 179 as a target of an outright win for Madhya Pradesh in their second innings and MP were 129/3 when the two captains decided to settle for a draw.
In UP’s second innings, Sameer Choudhary struck an unbeaten 82, which came off 84 balls with the help of seven fours and a six, whereas Ankur Malik too remained unbeaten on 85, which came off 89 balls with the help of six fours and two sixes.