Uttar Pradesh are three wickets away from securing a berth in the finals of the Ranji Trophy Super League as surprise semifinalists Saurashtra collapsed to a precarious 93/7 at stumps on day two here on Sunday.
Resuming their first innings at 116/8, Saurashtra were dismissed for 127 with pacers Praveen Kumar and S Tyagi taking four wickets apiece.
But UP bastmen were bundled out for just 100. India discard Suresh Raina was the top-scorer for UP with 25 runs while skipper and first innings saviour Mohammad Kaif (2) failed to fire. Rakesh Dhruv was the wrecker-in-chief for Saurashtra with a five-wicket haul.
Needing 163 to win, Saurashtra batsmen failed on the second successive day.
SCORE BOARD
UTTAR PRADESH (I innings) 188
SAURASHTRA (I innings, o/n 116/8): Dhruv lbw b P Kumar 26; Jobanputra b Tyagi 17; Maniar (not out) 4; Extras (B -1, LB-2) 3; Total (all out, 37.3 overs) 127
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-4, 3-7, 4-38, 5-61, 6-61, 7-87, 8-87, 9-121,10-127.
Bowling: P Kumar 12.3- 4- 40- 4; Tyagi 13-2-49- 4; Kumar 6-0-23-2; Chawla 6-2-12-0.
UTTAR PRADESH (II innings): Srivastava lbw Maniar 14; Amir Khan b Dhurv 22; Raina lbw Makvana 25; Kaif c Jogiyani b Makvana 8; Ravikant Shukla c Kotak b Dhurv 0; Chawla c Dhruv b Jobanputra 10; B Kumar b Dhruv 5; P Kumar b Dhurv 2; Elahi b Dhurv 5; P Gupta c Jogiyani b Maniar 1; Tyagi (not out) 0; Extras (B-4, LB-2, NB-2) 8; Total (all out, 44.1 overs) 100.
Fall of wickets:1-23, 2-59, 3-67, 4-69, 5-79, 6-82, 7-86, 8-99, 9-10, 10-100.
Bowling: Jobanputra 12-5-20-1; Maniar 10.1-5-20-2; Vaghela 3-0-20-0; Dhruv 14-7-20-5; Makvana 5-1-14-2.
SAURASHTRA (II innings): Jogiyani lbw b B Kumar 13; Shah c Amir Khan b Tyagi 0 ; Vaghela c Amir Khan b Tyagi 0;
Pujara c Amir Khan b Tyagi 9; Kotak (batting) 41; Rathod c Raina b P Kumar 13; Dhruv c & b Gupta 1; Bambhaniya lbw P Kumar 0; Makvana (batting) 9; Extras (B-1, LB-4, W-2) 7; Total (7 wkts, 45 overs) 93.
Fall of wickets: 1-2 , 2-2, 3-25, 4-25, 5-49, 6-50, 7-63.
Bowling: P Kumar 16-1-39-2; Tyagi 14-5-24-3, B Kumar 8-2-12-1, P Gupta 5-2-10-1, Chawla 2-0-3-0.
