Led by their medium pacers, Uttar Pradesh regained control of a situation
they had contrived to lose with the bat by reducing Rest of India to 131
for seven by stumps on day one of the Irani Trophy season opener at
Nagpur
The Bulletin by Jamie Alter09-Oct-2006Stumps
Scorecard
How they were outLed by their medium pacers, Uttar Pradesh regained control of a situation
they had contrived to lose with the bat by reducing Rest of India to 131
for seven by stumps on day one of the Irani Trophy season opener at
Nagpur. Praveen Kumar had gotten UP off to a promising start with the bat
before his dismissal sparked a manic collapse at the hands of Lakshmipathy
Balaji and Zaheer Khan, but his canny medium pace changed all that. For
those interested in stats, it was only the second time in the Irani
Trophy’s 47-year history that so many wickets (17) fell on the opening
day.Wasim Jaffer and Gautam Gambhir had seemingly blunted the attack with a
64-run opening stand, but Kumar nipped out three wickets to shift the
momentum back UP’s way. Gambhir had begun with some confident strokes
either side of the pitch, but a shocking error in judgment saw him
shoulder arms to Kumar’s medium pace, only for the ball to cut back in and
disturb the off stump. Kumar then changed to a slightly wider length, and
immediately snapped up Jaffer, who played away from his body for a tame
catch to gully. Dinesh Karthik, who was cramped for room, slashed to
the same position.There were no demons in this pitch, and no pace in UP’s attack, but the
shot selection among the opposition batsmen was questionable.
In between Kumar’s strikes, Shalabh Srivastava, the left-arm medium
pacer, removed Robin Uthappa and Venugopal Rao – playing shots that were
just not on – to leave ROI wilting under the pressure. These wickets made
the UP fielders sprightly, too; drives were intercepted with regularity,
and Shivakant Shukla, who held three catches at gully, pulled off an
acrobatic dive and fired in a good throw to run out Murali Kartik.
Srivastava then returned to york Zaheer’s leg stump and leave UP with a
slender 17-run lead.ROI’s folding was much like UP’s earlier in the day. On a warm and sultry
morning, Kumar showed his aggressive intent in a 73-run opening stand with
Shivakant with six boundaries and a thumped six. With a fifty seemingly
there for the taking – he had just smoked a fine cover drive through the
offside with consummate ease – Kumar threw it all away. Balaji landed one
on a good length, straightened it, and Kumar flashed without the slightest
foot movement to edge to the ‘keeper.His dismissal changed the tone of the innings, and the run rate. The first
50 came up in just 49 deliveries, the next consumed 123. Of the remaining
batsmen, only Shivakant went on to get a decent score in the face of an
impressive bowling performance from Balaji, Zaheer and Kartik.
Shivakant’s dismissal to Kartik, on 52, allowed Balaji and Zaheer to run
amok. Both bowlers were accurate and nippy, and constantly posed a threat
to a brittle lower order. Jyoti Yadav, UP’s captain, didn’t
trouble the scorers as he departed leg before to Zaheer in the first over
after the interval. It was a dubious decision because of the height and it
wasn’t the last either, as umpire Shashank Ranade soon adjudged
Srivastava out in the same manner when it was clear that the ball would
have missed leg stump. Balaji picked up his fourth when he trapped
Gyanendra Pandey under the knee roll in front of middle and leg, and UP
were bowled out for a total that looked very under par given their
confident start.
Uttar Pradesh
Praveen Kumar c Karthik b Balaji 42 (73 for 1)
Tanmay Srivastava b Zaheer 1 (76 for 2)
Shiva Shukla c Badrinath b Kartik 52 (110 for 3)
Ravikant Shukla c Badrinath b Kartik 9 (115 for 4)
Rizwan Shamshad c Karthik b Balaji 0 (115 for 5)
Jyoti Yadav lbw b Zaheer 0 (115 for 6)
Amir Khan c Ojha b Balaji 6 (128 for 7)
Avinash Yadav c Karthik b Zaheer 0 (134 for 8)
Shalabh Srivastava lbw Zaheer 6 (144 for 9)
Gyanendra Pandey lbw b Balaji 18 (148 for 10)
Rest of India
Gautam Gambhir b Kumar 20 (64 for 1)
Robin Uthappa c Shivakant Shukla b Srivastava 8 (74 for 2)
Wasim Jaffer c Shivakant Shukla b Kumar 45 (74 for 3)
Venugopal Rao c Khan b Srivastava 0 (74 for 4)
Dinesh Karthik c Shivakant Shukla b Kumar 11 (92 for 5)
Murali Kartik run out (Shivakant Shukla) 5 (108 for 6)
Zaheer Khan b Srivastava 1 (116 for 7)
