UP need three wickets, Saurashtra 69 runs

But keeping in mind the track, it’s UP’s game. Saurashtra’s only hope is Sitanshu Kotak—batting on 41 with Kamlesh Makwana on 9 at stumps.

“It is a double-pace wicket. Sometimes the ball is coming on to the bat much faster than expected. All batsmen need to do was to play cautiously,” says Gyanendra Pandey, UP coach.

And, UP bowling coach Ashish Winston Zaidi explains the reason. “There is grass on the wicket and there are white patches too which is resulting in ball to keep low or take time to come on to the bat. Otherwise, there is nothing for the spinners,” he said.

Saurashtra camp was more furious and coach Debu Mitra said, “This is not a five-day wicket. If you have to make bouncy pitches, make them, but don’t give such wickets which has inconsistent bounce.” Curator Vasudev Patel defends his work. “It’s a bouncy strip. What can you do if batsmen go for such shots? I think Indians must play more on such wickets so they can perform overseas. Two batsmen got more than 50 runs on this wicket. Mohammed Kaif got 80 yesterday. A neutral venue has an advantage. There is no pressure on curators to make pitches to suit home side,” Patel said.

UP’s batsmen could not survive too long for the second time on the pitch. Their second innings just produced 100 runs with Suresh Raina (25) being the highest scorer. For Saurashtra, Dhruv was the wrecker-in-chief with figures of 14-7-20-5, his second five-wicket haul of the season.

With Saurashtra being set 162 runs to win, the game looked wide open. But again the fiery UP pacers looked too much for the batsmen to tackle. Tyagi grabbed three quick wickets and Bhuvnesh Kumar one to reduce Saurashtra at one stage to 25/4. The unbroken eighth wicket partnership between Kotak and Makwana yielded 30 runs so far to raise hopes for the side, and take the total to 93 for 7. Kotak became the first batsman from Saurashtra to touch 6,000-run mark in first-class cricket. He achieved the feat when he was on 21.

... contd.