Praveen cuts short Delhi rampage

The final at the Wankhede provides this riveting atmosphere as Delhi and Uttar Pradesh battle it out. When stumps were drawn for the day, the contest remained locked in the most intriguing manner with Uttar Pradesh tottering at 154-6 in their second innings, having earned the all-important first innings lead.

In the morning it was easy to believe Delhi would go past UP’s first innings 342. Centuries by overnight batsmen Aakash Chopra (102) and Rajat Bhatia (139 n.o.) had raised that hope. But Praveen Kumar, the 21-year-old India player from Meerut, thought otherwise.

Two days of Cricket notwithstanding, the wicket offered considerable bounce, and conditions helped swing as Kumar’s exceptional spell earned him an eight-wicket haul, reducing the opposition from 196-4 to 290 all out.

Wicket-keeper-batsman Puneet Bisht, Pradeep Sangwan and Amit Bhandari were also adjudged leg-before while Sumit Narwal was bowled - all Kumar.

“Yes, the new ball did the trick,” he said, adding, “Yesterday the batsmen weren’t playing anything that was wide off the wicket. And when it was pitched in the middle, they just kept it down. It becomes difficult that way.”

On Friday morning, Delhi had certainly decided to free their arms. Chopra quickly added a couple of boundaries and Bhatia eight more to keep the runs ticking. It was Kumar’s pace - he regularly clocked in the region of 130-133 kmph - and the fact that he was able to bring the ball into the right-hander that did the batsmen in. His partner with the new ball Sudeep Tyagi added just another scalp to the one he had managed on Day Two. UP are batting again, already 202 runs ahead at the end of the third day. With two more days to go and four wickets left, another 100 runs would make for an interesting target. Kumar, however, is quick to remind that “the wicket is still good for batting.”

... contd.