Internet Desk: Spin duo of Aamir Gani (3/72) and Pragyan Ojha (2/101) gave Bengal the crucial lead over Uttar Pradesh at Sawai Maan Singh stadium on Saturday. Manoj Tiwary and his team took a vital first innings lead of 56 runs as they restricted Uttar Pradesh for 410 runs in 112.4 overs.
Umang Sharma scored a brilliant century (136 runs) but that was not enough to see his team take the lead against Bengal. Sarafaraz Khan too chipped with a well made 85 runs. Both of them showed signs of giving Uttar Pradesh the lead as they added 139 runs for the fourth wicket but that wasn’t enough to ensure at least three points for UP. At stumps, Bengal was 30 for no loss with a consolidated lead of 86 runs with a day’s play left.
Starting the day at 126 for 3, the duo took the score to 188 before the RCB batsman was caught by Abhimanyu Easwaran off Sayan Sekhar Mondal’s bowling. He faced 124 balls. Skipper Ekalavya Dwivedi (17) didn’t stay long as he was cleaned up by Sayan Ghosh.
Once Umang became the seventh batsmen to be dismissed as he failed to read a flighted delivery from Pragyan Ojha (2/101) offering a simple return catch. UP were 321/7 then. Kuldeep Yadav (63, 100 balls) also tried his best with Piyush Chawla (34) and Imtiaz Ahmed (26 batting) also making contributions but off-spinner Aamir Gani (3/72) got both Chawla and Yadav.
Pragyan Ojha, who returned with a match figure of 2/101 later spoke to CAB media.“It was a tough day for the bowlers on a wicket that was not doing much. But the bowlers bowled really well to get them out within this total. The wicket of S Khan on that stage was crucial. But we were always confident,” said Ojha after the days play.
Skipper Manoj Tiwary was a relieved man after the stumps on Day 3. According to Tiwary, “The pitch slowed down during the dying hours of the day. Tomorrow we need to bat well and get a healthy lead on the board”.
About today’s performance, “It was tough day for the bowlers, but they did really well to take the wickets at regular intervals and give a crucial first innings lead,” Tiwary concluded.
Brief Scores:
Bengal 1st Innings: 466 and 30/0
UP 1st Innings: 410 in 112.4 overs (U.Sharma 136, S.Khan 85, A.Gani 3/72