Irani Trophy match evenly poised between UP, RoI

Nagpur, Oct 9 (UNI) The Irani Trophy match between Ranji champions Uttar Pradesh (UP) and the Rest of India (RoI) here was evenly poised at the end of the play on the first day as the batsmen from both sides failed to apply themselves on the pitch.

RoI were staggering at 131 for seven in reply to UP's first innings score of 148 all out. S Badrinath (35, 7 x 4) and L Balaji (0) were at the crease when stumps were drawn.

Comfortably placed at 46 for no loss at tea, RoI collapsed due to poor shot selection and lack of application by the batsmen, losing seven wickets in a single session. Besides Badrinath, only skipper Wasim Jaffer had something to write home about with a score of 45.

UP fielded brilliantly, with Shivakant Shukla, who top-scored with 52 in the UP innings, took three stunning catches at gully and also helped run out Murali Karthik. Left arm medium pacer Shalabh Shrivastava and all-rounder Praveen Kumar snared three wickets each.

Earlier, RoI bundled out UP for a meagre 148 just within an hour after lunch as Zaheer Khan and L Balaji ripped through the line-up, snaring four wickets each. Zaheer had figures of 4 for 46, and Balaji 4 for 29.

UP elected to bat after winning the toss and raised hopes with a good beginning, but were in trouble by lunch, losing 5 wickets for 115 in the 34 overs bowled in the first session. They lost the remaining five wickets in 53 minutes after lunch, adding only 33 to the tally.

Praveen Kumar and Shivakant Shukla began well for UP, indulging in gusty stroke-play as Zaheer and V R V Singh remained wayward in their first spell. Kumar notched up 42 (55 b, 6x4, 1x6) before L Balaji got him out to give RoI their first breakthrough.

Murali Karthik snapped the prize wickets of Ravikant Shukla and Shivakant Shukla, ending with figures of 2 for 23 in 8 overs.

Shivakant was the top-scorer for UP, scoring 52 off 87 balls with nine hits to the fence. RoI wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik had a good outing, snapping up three catches behind the stumps.

UNI XR PM AY VC1945