The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Piyush Chawla emerges U.P.’s hero

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Tuesday, Dec 16, 2008
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Piyush Chawla emerges U.P.’s hero

Principal Correspondent

— Photo: Sampath Kumar

CRUCIAL KNOCK: Piyush Chawla’s knock clinched Uttar Pradesh’s first-innings lead.

Bangalore: Piyush Chawla’s 96, high on self-belief and cheekiness, helped Uttar Pradesh gain a 56-run first innings lead over Karnataka — besides securing his side a quarterfinal berth — in the Ranji trophy super league Group B match that concluded in a draw at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Monday.

In reply to Karnataka’s 511, Uttar Pradesh scored 567 in 191 overs.

Uttar Pradesh finished with 17 points from six matches and is currently placed second behind Tamil Nadu while Karnataka (14 pts), which is on the brink of qualifying, needs to wait for its last round match against Maharashtra later this week.

Resuming at 295 for two, Uttar Pradesh lost centurions — Tanmay Srivasthava (159, 311b, 21x4) and skipper Mohammad Kaif (112, 320b, 15x4) in the morning.

However, Uttar Pradesh inched forward despite Vinay Kumar’s critical third spell of 9-0-28-3. Parvinder Singh and Bhuvneshwar (55) shared a 55-run fifth-wicket partnership before Piyush Chawla (96, 113b, 12x4, 3x6) scattered the bowlers.

Chawla clattered Akhil to the fence and later hoisted Sunil Joshi high into the stands. The southpaw cut, slashed and lofted with ease and the only scare was when he miscued a heave off Sunil Raju but found the skier eluding Aiyappa at long-on.

It was Chawla’s crucial 81-run ninth-wicket partnership with Amir Khan (47) that helped Uttar Pradesh wrest the first innings lead. He waded into a Sunil Raju over with a couple of sixes and a four to secure the lead, and raised his arms in delight.

Chawla then tried to get his hundred and Amir Khan hoped for his fifty but both fell on the verge of their milestones.

The scores:

Karnataka — Ist innings: 511 in 168.5 overs.

Uttar Pradesh — Ist innings: T. Srivasthava b Aiyappa 159, S. Shukla c&b Aiyappa 1, S. Raina c Raju b Aiyappa 17, Md. Kaif c Naidu b Akhil 112, Parvinder Singh c Uthappa b Akhil 30, Bhuvneshwar Kumar b Vinay 55, P. Chawla c Raju b Uthappa 96, Praveen Kumar c sub b Vinay 0, R.P. Singh c Gautam b Vinay 14, Amir Khan c Naidu b Chougule 47, Praveen Gupta (not out) 3, Extras (b-27, lb-4, nb-1, w-1) 33; Total (in 191 overs) 567.

Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-53, 3-300, 4-313, 5-368, 6-436, 7-436, 8-466, 9-547.

Karnataka bowling: Vinay 42-9-110-3, Akhil 22-5-69-2, Aiyappa 34-9-108-3, Raju 20-2-80-0, Joshi 53-24-97-0, Raghu 9-1-19-0, Uthappa 6-0-27-1, Chougule 5-1-26-1.

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