Good individual outings brighten up a dull draw

A DIFFERENT KNOCK: Chris Gayle left the aerial strokes out and uncorked cuts and drives as he used the practice game against UP XI to get into the Test match groove.

Parvinder Singh’s well-crafted century and some sparkling batting from Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels lit up the final day of the tour match between West Indies and the Uttar Pradesh Ranji side, which ended in a tame draw at the Jadavpur University second campus complex here on Saturday.

Needing to avoid a follow-on, Uttar Pradesh rode on Parvinder’s fine batting. Unbeaten on 78 the previous day, Parvinder made good use of his experience to score 112 (142b, 17x4, 2x6) and took UP close to the follow-on target.

Captain Piyush Chawla (46) then paired up with wicketkeeper Amir Khan in a 76-run partnership to guide the team to safety.

The rear-guard action saw UP’s score swell to 372 for nine after which it declared.

West Indies made 199 for five in its second innings before the teams agreed to call off the game 20 minutes before the scheduled end.

Study in contrast

Chris Gayle’s innings was a study in contrast as he put a leash on his trademark belligerence and played some delectable ground strokes.

Gayle never took the aerial route — a scene commonly associated with him as one of the most prolific scorers of the instant version of the game. The doughty stroke-maker instead cut and drove with elegance.

With the first Test against India barely four days away, Gayle’s approach reflected his intention to suit himself to the classical format. Despite this Gayle found 11 boundaries in the process. Most of his 58 runs in the 49-ball innings came off boundaries which was a good comeback from the diffident 18 he had made in the first innings.

Marlon Samuels (58) also played a good knock to enhance his team’s confidence.

Piyush Chawla, who drew a blank in the first innings, was the pick of the UP bowlers in the second with four wickets for 72.

The scores:

West Indies XI — first innings: 466.

Uttar Pradesh XI — first innings: Tanmay Srivastava b Cotterrell 23, Mukul Dagar b Best 42, Mohammad Kaif c Powell b Permaul 16, Parvinder Singh c Samuels b Cotterrell 112, Arish Alam c Ramdin b Permaul 0, Prashant Gupta c Ramdin b Sammy 39, Amir Khan c Sammy b Permaul 47, Piyush Chawla c Ramdin b Best 46, Imtiaz Ahmed c Chanderpaul b Cotterrell 19, R.P. Singh (not out) 6; Extras (b-5, lb-11, w-1, nb-5): 22; Total (for nine wickets decl. in 96.3 overs): 372.

Fall of wickets: 1-41, 2-71, 3-93, 4-96, 5-203, 6-260, 7-336, 8-366, 9-372.

West Indies XI bowling: Tino Best 18-4-77-2, Sheldon Cotterrell 19.3-3-65-3, Darren Sammy 16-2-56-1, Veerasammy Permaul 33-6-124-3, Narsingh Deonarine 8-1-31-0, Chris Gayle 2-1-3-0.

West Indies XI — second innings: Chris Gayle c & b Chawla 58, Kieran Powell b Chawla 15, Marlon Samuels c Gupta b Alam 58, Denesh Ramdin c R.P. Singh b Chawla 41, Darren Sammy c Alam b Chawla 8, Narsingh Deonarine (not out) 6, Veersammy Permaul (not out) 10; Extras (nb-3): 3; Total (for five wickets in 37 overs): 199.

Fall of wickets: 1-68, 2-85, 3-169, 4-175, 5-184.

Uttar Pradesh XI bowling: Rudra Pratap Singh 5-1-25-0, Imtiaz Ahmed 2-0-23-0, Arish Alam 11-1-47-1, Piyush Chawla 14-1-72-4, Tanmay Srivastava 5-0-32-0.