Unbeaten Akash steadies UP against J

Jammu, Dec 14 (UNI) Akash Kumar struck an unbeaten 85 to help Uttar Pradesh reach 223 for seven against Jammu and Kashmir on the opening day of the Cooch Behar Under-19 Cricket Tournament here today.

The UP innings stumbled early as J&K bowlers kept visiting batsmen at the backfoot.

J&K seamers Ram Dayal Punia, Mohd. Mudassir and right arm spinner Manik Gupta crippled the UP innings with two wickets each and put UP under pressure.

However, Akash Kumar, who batted at number six, played a sensible innings and rotated strike with the lower order to make unbeaten 85 runs off 179 runs with 15 hits to the fence.

Ankit Pal (29) and Umang Sharma (28) were the other two batsmen, who spend some crucial time at the crease and added some runs to their kitty.

Earlier, after winning the toss, J&K put UP to bat first as wet conditions delayed the match by half-an-hour.

Scoreboard: UP Ist innings: Akash Verma lbw Mohd Mudassir 16; Zahid Ali b Mohd. Mudassir 7; Ankit Pal c Mehraj-ud-Din b Manik Gupta 29; Ankit Tewari c Imran Harun b Manik Gupta 10; Umang Sharma c Pervez Rasool b Ram Dayal 28; Akash Kumar batting 85; Mohd. Ahraz c Mehraj-ud-Din b Ram Dayal 4; Mohd. Khalid c Mohd Mudassir b Adil Rishi 17; Rizwan Ahmed batting 10.

Extras: (b 11, lb 2, nb 4) 17 Total: (In 92 overs) 223 for 7 Fall of Wickets: 1/20 2/29 3/60 4/73 5/115 6/137 7/181 Bowling: Mohd. Mudassir 23-7-67-2; Ram Dayal Punia 22-6-53-2; Manik Gupta 23-6-68-2; Parvez Rasool 17-8-22-0; Adil Rishi 6-3-8-1; Divya Pratap 1-0-2-0 UNI