Uttar Pradesh's opening batsman Tanmay Srivastava and Delhi's new-ball bowler Pradeep Sangwan proved equal to their task as former slammed a brilliant Ranji maiden ton to bail his team out from crisis while the latter picked up three crucial wickets to provide an edge to his side on the opening day of the five-day Ranji final commenced at the Wankhade stadium here on Wednesday.
Put into bat, Uttar Pradesh's opener Tanmay Srivastava (105) unleashed a sparkling stroke-ful hundred out of his willow while Ravikant Shukla scored an unbeaten resolute 80 to resurrect UP after early setbacks as they reached 292 for seven at the end of day one against Delhi.
Ironically, both the young guns Tanmay and Sangwan are under-19 teammates, who were going hand in hand turning up for their nation against South Africa few days back, but for now they are shrugging their shoulders against each other helping their respective state teams to get hold of the prestigious Ranji title.
The southpaw from UP hit 13 boundaries and a six in his 174-ball scintillating knock, despite losing partners from the other end, stitching a crucial hundred run partnership for the fourth wicket with Shukla, who batted exactly opposite to what his partner dished out and held the fort alongwith Bhuvanesh Kumar (6) till the end of day's play.
The 20-year-old, Shukla, also survived a chance when he was dropped by Delhi keeper Puneet Bisht off Narwal on 57, hit eight fours in his 190-ball knock.
Tanmay and Shukla’s cautious approach saved the day for UP after losing opener Rohit Srivastava (6), skipper Mohammed Kaif (16) and Suresh Raina (16) cheaply in the first session as their team was tottering at 102 for 3 at lunch.
Earlier, UP started on a wobbly note after other opener Rohit Srivastava trapped lbw by Narwal early on at the score of 21 followed by Raina, who was caught on the wrong foot off Sangwan at 60.
Kaif was caught at first slip by Aakash Chopra to give spinner Chetanya Nanda his lone success of the day. Tanmay soared to his maiden hundred with a huge six of Nanda.
However, he came up with a reckless shot in the very next over to see the back of the field. He was caught at third slip by Shikhar Dhawan off Sangwan. With no further casualties before tea UP reached 215/4 after second session.
Pradeep Sangwan (3/73) and Sumit Narwal (3/66) were the most successful bowlers for Delhi, as they struck at regular time to keep their side in the game.
Delhi again strike back in the final session of the day as Piyush Chawla (20) caught at gully off Narwal followed by wicket keeper Amir Khan (15) edging one to second slip in the safe hands of Chopra with Sangwan striking again.
Sangwan could soon get his fourth but Amit Bhandari dropped an easy chance of Praveen Kumar (8) at mid-on but Praveen failed to make most of his opportunity as he fell to Narwal.
SCORECARD
Uttar Pradesh 1st innings: R. Srivastava lbw b S. Narwal 6, T. Srivastava c Dhawan b Sangwan 105, S. Raina lbw b Sangwan 16, M. Kaif c Chopra b Nanda 16, R. Shukla (batting) 80, P. Chawla c Jain b Narwal 20, A. Khan c Chopra b Sangwan 15, P. Kumar c Manhas b Narwal 8, B. Kumar (batting) 6
Extras: (b-1, lb-13, nb-5, w-1) 20
Total: 292 for seven wickets in 90 overs.
Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-60, 3-99, 4-200, 5-231, 6-274, 7-285.
Delhi bowling: Sangwan 21-5-73-3, Bhandari 17-3-60-0, Narwal 20-4-66-3, Bhatia 16-3-34-0, Nanda 15-2-37-1, Manhas 1-0-8-0.
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