KANPUR: Skipper Suresh Raina smashed an unbeaten 145 as Uttar Pradesh declared their second innings on 273 for five to gain control against Tamil Nadu on Day 3 of the Group B Ranji Tropphy match on Tuesday.
Chasing a mammoth 391 to win at Green Park, Tamil Nadu were five for no loss at stumps with skipper Abhinav Mukund and Baba Aparajith negotiating eight tricky overs.
After bundling out the visitors for 231, the UP top-order got down to business right away with opener Almas Shaukat and Raina stitching up a 138-run second-wicket partnership. The left-hander went on score his 14th first-class century. His 145 not out came off 138 balls, with nine fours and six sixes. Looking for an outright win, Raina declared the innings and invited the visitors to bat out the dying moments of the day. Praveen Kumar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar probed without luck.
Earlier, starting the day on 174 for six in reply to the home team’s 348, the Tamil Nadu lower order could not last long. No 9 Malolan Rangarajan scored a gutsy 45 off 62 balls. Vijay Shankar remained top scorer with 92.
Pace spearhead Praveen was the wrecker-in-chief with four wickets. Bhuvneshwar and left-arm spinner Suarabh Kumar bagged two wickets apiece. While victory will boost UP’s quarterfinal chances, defeat will keep Tamil Nadu in the zone of uncertainty.
Scoreboard
Uttar Pradesh (1st innings) 348.
Tamil Nadu (1st innings, o/n 174/6) Prasanna c Raina b P Kumar 32, Crist c Dwivedi b B Kumar 1, Malolan c Dwivedi b Saurabh 45, Mohammed (not out) 4, Chandrasekar lbw b Saurabh 0. Extras (b 6, lb 3) 9. Total (all out; 88 ovs) 231. Fall of wickets: 7-182, 8-182, 9-231.
Uttar Pradesh (2nd innings) Shaukat c Karthik b Aparajith 75, Asnora c Malolan b Kousik 14, Raina (not out) 145, Umang c Kousik b Malolan 7, P Kumar c sub (Vignesh) b Aparajith 4, Dwivedi run out (Indrajith) 1, Nath (not out) 23. Extras (w 4) 4. Total (5 wkts dec; 62 ovs) 273. Fall of wickets: 1-42, 2-180, 3-191, 4-195, 5-199. Bowling: Malolan 26-4-97-1, Crist 6-0-37-0, Mohammed 3-1-9-0, Kousik 5-1-23-1, Chandrasekar 9-0-34-0, Aparajith 13-0-73-2. Tamil Nadu (2nd innings) Mukund (batting) 3, Aparajith (batting) 0. Extras (lb 1, w 1) 2. Total (0 wkts; 8 ovs) 5. Bowling: B Kumar 4-1-4-0, P Kumar 3-3-0-0, Saurabh 1-1-0-0.
Ranji Wrap
Group A
At Guwahati: Delhi 149 & 172 (S Mohammad 3/49, Verma 3/42) vs Assam 157 & 70/3.
Pune: Bengal 528/8 dec vs Maharashtra 219/3 (R Tripathi 70 n.o, S Atitkar 69).
Rohtak: Odisha 529/6 dec vs Haryana 216 (N Saini 51, B Mohanty 3/51, Pradhan S 3/53) & 46/1 (f/o).
Nagpur: Rajasthan 216 & 226/9 (V Saxena 54, A Menaria 76, A Sarwate 4/58, R Jangid 3/31).
Group B
Vadodara: Baroda 475 bt Punjab 212 (U Kaul 58, I Pathan 3/61, M Patel 3/54, H Pandya 3/50) & 147 (I Pathan 3/19, M Patel 3/19) by innings & 116 runs. Pts: Baroda 7, Punjab 0.
Mumbai: Railways 217 & 285/1 (S Wakaskar 141 n.o, V Cheluvaraj 70 n.o) vs Mumbai 331 (N Patel 83, Karn Sharma 7/91).
Surat: Gujarat 311 & 202/9 dec (J Saxena 6/60) vs MP 200
(J Bumrah 3/46) & 4/0.
Group C
Porvorim: Kerala 441 bt Goa 191 (Sandeep Warrier 6/44) & 167 (f/o) (S Warrier 3/31). Pts: Kerala 7, Goa 0.
Rajkot: Himachal Pradesh 551 vs Saurashtra 261/6 (J Shah 96 n.o, C Jani 56).
Delhi: Services 353 (S Chatterjee 156, Yashpal Singh 51, Ravi Kiran 4/65, Milind 3/78) vs Hyderabad 143/0 (A Reddy 89 n.o).
Agartala: Tripura 166 & 132/9 (M Murasingh 52, S Nadeem 6/35) vs Jharkhand 394/4 dec (I Jaggi 102 n.o, K Deobrat 63).