With more fluctuations than a faulty voltmeter, the advantage oscillated between Uttar Pradesh and Baroda during Day Three of their Ranji match, where three points for the first-innings lead were up for grabs. Halfway through the post-lunch session, the visitors’ had their tails up as UP were reeling at 195 for eight — still 39 runs adrift of Baroda’s score of 234. But Praveen Gupta (32) and RP Singh (13 not out) finished as the unlikely heroes for the home side, seeing the team through to a slender six-run first-innings lead. And by stumps on the penultimate day, Mohammad Kaif & co could sniff an outright victory as Baroda stumbled to 60/3.

The hosts added just two runs to their overnight total of 36 for no loss before Baroda clawed their way back into the match with three quick wickets on the same score. Tanmay Srivastava was the first to make the long walk back — trapped leg before by visiting captain Irfan Pathan on the eighth ball of the day.

A double blow awaited last year’s runners-up in the following Munaf Patel over, as Shivakant Shukla and Kaif were dismissed in identical fashion — caught behind by keeper Pinal Shah — in the first and last balls repectively. At 38/3, Parwinder Singh took his guard with an eye on the scoreboard, but when the Patel-Shah combination struck once again, Singh too hadn’t disturbed the scorers.

Fresh from his Team India stint, Suresh Raina scored freely to temporarily stem the rot. But just when he looked set for a big score, Raina holed out at mid-wicket for 30, to leave UP reeling at 80/5. The middle-order spent quality time in the middle, but were unable to keep the scoreboard ticking.

... contd.