Rinku, Zeeshan raise UP’s hope of another outright win this year
LUCKNOW : Young all-rounder Rinku Singh on Thursday slammed his second first class century, whereas Zeeshan Ansari struck a fine half-century to help former champions Uttar Pradesh tighten their noose around Services on the penultimate day of the four-day Elite Group C Ranji Trophy match in New Delhi.
Rinku whose previous best was an unbeaten 122, struck an unbeaten 163 on Thursday to guide Uttar Pradesh take a solid 275-run first innings lead as visitors declared their first innings at 535/9 in 159.2 overs, at the Airforce Complex Ground in Palam.
Services, which could score 260 in the first innings, were 35/1 at close of stumps of Thursday. NK Singh (10) and Ravi Chauhan (13), who were at the crease will have to work hard on Friday to deny Uttar Pradesh their third outright win this season in as many as matches.
Opener Anshul Gupta (11, 22b, 2x4) was foxed by Ankit Rajpoot with a swinging one on the very first ball of the seventh over. Thereafter, NK Singh and Ravi negotiated the remaining 41 deliveries on day three cautiously.
Uttar Pradesh had just five runs lead when they resumed at the overnight score of 265/5 on Thursday morning.
Night watchman Shivam Mavi could add 16 runs to his last night total before being bowled by Diwesh Gurdev Pathania in the sixth over of the day.
But it didn’t make a difference to Rinku, who went on striking 13 boundaries and two sixes during his 230-ball unbeaten innings. He added 91-run for the seventh wicket with keeperbatsman Upendra Yadav (22, 67b, 2x4). There was some surprise element for Services even after that as Rinku found the last man and spinner Zeeshan Ansari as his best man in the middle as they stitched together a record 140-run for the ninth wicket.
Zeeshan, who scored his career best 76 in 129 balls with the help of 11 hits to the fence, was caught by Rajat Paliwal off Sachidanand Pandey in the 160th over and immediately after that skipper Akashdeep declared the innings.
Diwesh Gurdev Pathania remained the most successful Services bowler, bagging 4/104, whereas Sachidanand Pandey (3/101) and Nitin Tanwar (2/154) followed him.
BENGAL HUMILATED
Kolkata: Kerala Thursday blew away home favourites Bengal by nine wickets and with a day to spare for their second successive win in the Ranji Trophy, consolidating the position atop the Elite Group B standings.
Sandeep Warrier complemented opener Jalaj Saxena’s first innings 143 with an impressive 5/33 in the second essay, and the Kerala pacer rattled the top four Bengal batsmen, including a well-set skipper Manoj Tiwary (62), to set up the win.
Warrier was at his best during his second spell (7-2-10-2) in the post-lunch session, when he broke a 69-run third wicket stand between Tiwary and Sudeep Chatterjee (39).
BRIEF SCORES
Services 260 and 35/1 (A Rajpoot 1/12) vs Uttar Pradesh 535/9d (R Singh 163, P Garg 88, Z Ansari 76, D Pathania 4/104).