da realbet： Tanmay Srivastava chose the occasion to script his maidenfirst-class hundred and pushed Uttar Pradesh to 292 for 7
da fezbet： The Bulletin by Sriram Veera in Mumbai16-Jan-2008Uttar Pradesh 292 for 7 (Srivastava 105, Shukla 80*, Sangwan 3-73, Narwal 3-66) v Delhi
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Tanmay Srivastava attacked at every opportunity, slashing to the cover fence each time the bowlers gave width © Mid-Day
Tanmay Srivastava, who cut short his under-19 tour of South Africa toplay the Ranji final, chose the occasion to script his maidenfirst-class hundred and pushed Uttar Pradesh to 292 for 7 by close ofplay on the opening day at the Wankhede Stadium. Ravikant Shukla, dropped when on 13, made an unbeaten 80but Delhi clawed back into the game with late wickets to justify theirdecision to bowl first and, with the wicket promising to be at its best forbatting over the next two days, will reckon they have a slightedge.As the curator promised, the track was firm and offered some movementand good carry in the initial hour, andthere were a few plays and misses by the batsmen.Tanmay announced his refreshingly positive intent with a clippedfirst-ball boundary off his legs, followed by a steer to third man,before he settled down to play a fluent innings. He took a full strideforward at every opportunity and played as close to the body aspossible. Though beaten on a few occasions like the others, he didn’tpush his bat away from the body. Instead, he was quick to go on the attack, slashing to the cover boundary each time the bowlers gavewidth, and cutting when they dragged back the length. The techniquewas quite simple: he stood still at the crease, had a slightforward trigger movement but took care never to press that foot toomuch across his stumps.Rohit Srivastava, his fellow opener, and Suresh Raina failedto do that and were trapped in front. Rohit was a touch unlucky, as the ballappeared to be sliding down leg side but the technique did exposehim to the lbw threat. Mohammad Kaif was edgy throughout his shortstay before he cut the legspinner Chetanya Nanda’s first delivery toslip for Aakash Chopra to hold a sharp catch.Tanmay found an able ally in Shukla and the two led the recovery act witha 101-run partnership. Shulka was to get a slice of luck early in hisinnings. Nanda had placed his midwicket fielder slightly deeper thannormal and lured Shukla to play the slog-sweep but Narwal failed tohold on. Shukla settled down after that, showing good judgmentoutside off stump and grew in confidence as his innings progressed. Heplayed his cuts and pulls whenever offered the opportunity.As the partnership blossomed, Gautam Gambhir, the Delhi captain, might have worried over hisdecision at the toss but Tanmay’s wicket opened the door for Delhi tofight back. He had just pulled Nanda for six to bring up his century butfell a ball later, steering Sangwan to third slip. Piyush Chawlafollowed, slashing a wide one from Narwal to gully, Amir Khan fell toa diving catch by Chopra at first slip and Praveen Kumar pulledto deep midwicket.Delhi’s desperation had begun to pay off but their bowlers could havebeen more disciplined earlier in the day. Gambhir, who kept at leasttwo slips through most of the day, was seen on occasiongesticulating to the bowlers to hit the channel outside off stump.Sangwan found that line more often than the others but he toowas guilty of bowling a touch short.Amit Bhandari failed to find his outswinger with the new ball and struggledto hit the right line when he went round the stumps later, while Narwal offered the batsman width throughout the day. When the bowlershit the right areas, they had the batsmenin trouble. Delhi will feel confident of prising out the remainingthree wickets early on Thursday and then expect their strong top order todo the job with the bat.
