Uday Kaul and Mandeep Singh struck fifities and made sure Punjab ended the third day against Uttar Pradesh in a position of strength despite hitting some speed bumps
The Report by Vishal Dikshit in Kanpur25-Nov-2015
ScorecardFile photo – Mandeep Singh and Uday Kaul added 124 together•ESPNcricinfo Ltd
Uday Kaul and Mandeep Singh made sure Punjab ended the third day against Uttar Pradesh in a position of strength despite hitting some speed bumps. On a day when either team could have seized the momentum to set up a win on the last day, Punjab first took a first-innings lead of 46 runs, and then accumulated 244 in the second innings to stretch the overall lead to 290, before bad light curbed the third day in a row. UP bowled well only in phases – first with the new ball and then in the second session to take three wickets in 13 overs – but things became easier for the Punjab batsmen as the pitch did not assist the bowlers the way it did on the first day.Punjab and UP, who are among four teams to be stuck with 17 points in Group B, will be desperate to get six points and push for a quarter-final spot.Mandeep and Uday did most of the work for Punjab in the first two sessions as they switched gears according to the conditions and the situation. They weathered a spell of 12 consecutive and probing overs from Praveen Kumar before lunch to soften the ball as the sun came out after an overcast morning. While Uday was patient and mostly defensive, Mandeep showed his aggression from the beginning by pulling Praveen for his first four, in the 13th over.Mandeep Singh on…
Punjab’s declaration: “We’ll look to score another 30-40 runs and then ask them to bat. The wicket will be difficult to bat on the fourth day because there are some patches now. If we can give them 70-80 overs also, we can turn it into a match.”
Punjab’s approach for the last day: “It will be tough to get them out but both teams need those six points. If we can give them 325-odd then they will also have a chance to score quickly and chase. But we will have to take a chance to go for a win.”
His recent form: “I didn’t score well in the last three to four innings but at Patiala we played on a rank turner and Baroda had a lot of uneven bounce. I’m not saying I got out only because of that but…it wasn’t playing on my mind that my last few innings had been a flop or anything. Overall I knew I was batting well. Like in the first innings my target was to leave as many balls as possible because it was cutting a lot. I did what I wanted to do in the first innings – to wear the ball down and then score some runs.”
Batting on the third day: “Initially it was a bit difficult to bat because the ball was hard and new. But it was a bit easier in the second innings so I was looking to score freely and big today, and we were looking to declare today itself but unfortunately we couldn’t do it.”
The two batsmen put on 124 runs after Punjab had lost their openers in consecutive overs to UP’s pacers. Manan Vohra started briskly with two fours before he pulled Praveen straight to deep square leg and Imtiaz Ahmed drew Jiwanjot Singh’s outside edge with an outswinger.Punjab were left in a spot of bother at 28 for 2, but Mandeep and Uday showed confidence and steered the score past 150, not allowing UP to press the accelerator. Mandeep, who had scored three ducks in his last five innings, made sure that he capitalised on a good start this time.Suresh Raina was forced to change his tactics, as he brought spinners from both ends about 40 minutes after lunch, and Mandeep cashed in further by shifting to accumulation mode. Piyush Chawla conceded nine runs from his first over, including two no-balls, and a four that brought up Mandeep’s fifth-fifty plus score of the season. He soon launched left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar over long-on for six but was bowled by a flatter delivery only three balls later, for 84.Seeing Yuvraj Singh walk out next, Raina replaced Chawla with Praveen, gifting the crowd another PK-Yuvi show. Yuvraj went about his innings fluently, taking three fours and a six off Praveen in consecutive overs. He started by steering one off the pads, one through the covers, and a back-foot cut before Praveen switched ends and Yuvraj unleashed a six on the leg side.But Yuvraj’s show ended when Ankit Rajpoot trapped him lbw with a short ball; a decision that left the batsman seemingly unhappy. To make things worse for Punjab, first-innings top-scorer Mayank Sidhana swatted Praveen to midwicket for a straightforward catch for 4 in the last over before tea with the score reading 197. The loss of five wickets meant Punjab’s score was not commanding, but their lead of 243 meant they were well ahead.Punjab were hardly troubled after tea. With Mandeep gone, Uday took charge as the main run-scorer and pushed Punjab’s score past 200, and lead towards 300, by scoring 36 runs from 52 balls with five fours, in the last session. He took minimal risk, played most of his shots along the ground, and nudged the ball easily in the gaps as UP tried several bowlers in pursuit of breakthroughs. Gitansh Khera fell when he gave an easy catch to over off a leading edge at the score of 239 but Punjab had consolidated their position by then.UP’s assistant coach Mritunjay Tripathi, however, was confident of his team staging a comeback on the last day, saying that they would not hesitate to chase a target beyond 300. “If we can get them out in the morning and have a target of 300-350, it’s chaseable in about 80 overs. We’ll try our best and go for it. We’ll go with a positive intent and win hopefully.”Earlier, Siddarth Kaul foiled UP’s plans to minimise the deficit, from their overnight 205 for 8, by removing Imtiaz and Rajpoot in quick succession, even as Saurabh collected boundaries at the other end. The hosts were eventually bowled out for 226.