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Tamil Nadu lets U.P. off the hook

A. Joseph Antony

Shivakant, Parvinder help their side wriggle out of trouble

— Photo: K. Ramesh Babu

THE HEROES: Parvinder Singh and Shivakant Shukla steered Uttar Pradesh out of trouble with their unconquered partnership for the fourth wicket.

NAGPUR: A seasoned hand observed that whenever Shivakant Shukla did well, so did Uttar Pradesh. That proved to be no superstition as the southpaw’s sterling century steered his side out of harm’s way.

Stuttering at 63 for three, barely an hour into the third day of its Ranji Trophy semifinal at the Vidarbha Cricket Stadium, the northern side clawed its way back to close at 253 for three.

The script would have been dramatically different had Tamil Nadu taken the truism of catches winning matches more seriously. The close-in field, that wouldn’t let anything past it on day two, became pretty porous on Tuesday. Bearing the brunt of its lapses were L. Balaji, S. Suresh Kumar and P. Amarnath, in that order.

Balaji’s burst

That famed burst by Balaji seemed imminent, as he castled Suresh Raina with a peach of delivery. The ball shot through the gates from a perfect length, bang on target, the mid-stump bent backwards by the blow. The woodwork wore a similar look when Mohd. Kaif played on, after Balaji directed his assault from around the stumps.

The third scalp would have been Parvinder Singh’s, then on 20, had wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik not spilt a chance with U.P. on 113.

The Meerut-native enjoyed his second reprieve on 64. The TN skipper’s bad day continued as the ball ricocheted off his gloves and over lone slip M. Vijay’s head. On the threshold of his third century, Shivakant’s cut at 95 was grassed by Vijay, who got a hand to the offering.

With the pavilion end gallery casting its shadow all over the square, a tardy over-rate to boot made it an eminently forgettable day for the squad from the south. For U.P., if the morning session sought to stave off further setbacks, the post-lunch session saw the run-rate perk up considerably.

Shivakant, ably assisted by Parvinder, plundered the bowling and the boundaries kept coming at regular intervals. From a patronising pat past point off Ashwin to a caressed steer through the square off Balaji, Shivakant’s repertoire of strokes made a fine display.

Parvinder, not to be left behind, cut loose, whenever the opportunity arose. If the wait for the fourth wicket seemed a long one for Tamil Nadu, it faces an uphill task on Wednesday, with the U.P. batting line-up showing increased resilience.

The scores:

Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: 445.

Uttar Pradesh — 1st innings: Tanmay Srivastava c Badrinath b Ganapathy 1, Shivakant Shukla (batting) 103, Suresh Raina b Balaji 39, Mohd. Kaif b Balaji 0, Parvinder Singh (batting) 93; Extras (b-6, lb-9, w-2): 17; Total (for three wkts. in 109 overs): 253.

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-53, 3-63.

Tamil Nadu bowling: L. Balaji 29-12-53-2, C. Ganapathy 27-11-49-1, P. Amarnath 24-7-54-0, C. Suresh 11-2-41-0, R. Ashwin 13-2-26-0, S. Suresh 5-0-15-0.

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