Nayudu trophy: UP in driving seat with 493 runs for 9 in first innings against J&K

Kanpur: Aditya Sharma and Prashant Veer’s centuries and their 264 runs partnership for seventh wicket placed UP in the driving seat against J&K as the host piled a big score of 493 for 9 in their first innings on the second day of their four-day Pool A tie of U-23 tournament for Col CK Nayudu trophy on Monday.UP has now accumulated a lead of 277 runs with still one wicket in hand and two days’ game is still left. They have a fair chance to register an outright victory in their last tie and maintain their top place in the pool. On the other hand, J&K which had scored 216 runs in their first innings will have a tough task to save the match as there are two days left. They have to first think about batting for almost two days and score more than the lead.Parth Jain and captain Sameer Rizvi in the morning resumed UP’s innings from overnight score. Sameer was aggressive while Parth was silent and supported his capitan from the other end. The two executed 137 runs partnership for the fourth wicket. Their partnership broke when Sameer in a bid to complete his century with a six. Sameer faced 108 balls and plundered 12 boundaries and 3 sixes all hit to Janib Javed. His fourth attempt proved fatal for him The score was 173 at that time. UP lost two more wickets in quick succession at the cost of just 10 runs and the outgoing batsmen were Aradhya Yadav (4) and Parth Jain who could add just 24 runs in his overnight score. UP lost three wickets before lunch and added 152 runs and achieved a lead of 26 runs.The second session was dry for J&K as Aditya and Prashant Veer added 106 runs without separation. After tea, Aditya completed his century with a fine boundary of Janib in 136 balls with the help of 12 boundaries. Thereafter Prashant Veer completed his century with a single pushing Govind Sharma to the deep cover. His 100 came in 184 balls consisting of 10 boundaries and one six. The two batsmen soon completed their 250 runs partnership for the seventh wicket in 241 minutes. During the last half-an-hour time, Vishal Kumar struck twice and claimed Prashant Veer and Aditya both. Prashant Veer (107) was adjudged lbw and Aditya was caught by Rydham behind the wicket. Vishal thereafter also claimed the wicket of Kunal Tyagi (0) and completed his tally of five wickets. At close Vipraj Nigam and Rohit Dwivedi were batting on 40 and 0 runs respectively.UP coach Mohd Amir praised the boys’ efforts and hoped that his bowlers would finish the job at the earliest.