Piyush Chawla half-century puts Uttar Pradesh in command
Piyush Chawla scored a quickfire 88 to take Uttar Pradesh past the 400-run mark © Getty Images
Jaipur: Nov 30, 2011
Riding on a quickfire half-century by Piyush Chawla, Uttar Pradesh posted 492 in their first innings before reducing the defending champions Rajasthan to 119 for 2 on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Group ‘A’ Elite division match on Wednesday.
Twin strike by Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2 for 30) put UP in the drivers seat at stumps on day two with Robin Bist (44*) and Rashmi Parida (43*) battling it out in the middle for the hosts here at the Sawai Man Singh stadium.
Having lost both openers Aakash Chopra (9) and Vineet Saxena (12) and with injured Hrishikesh Kanitkar not playing in this game, Rajasthan now face a daunting task as they still are 373 runs behind the visitors.
Earlier, UP resumed on the overnight total of 292 for four with Parvinder on 56 and Arish Alam on 60.
Though Alam could add just another nine runs to the team’s total before becoming the first casualty of the day, he made crucial contribution by adding 126 runs for the fifth wicket with Parvinder.
Thereafter, Parvinder Singh (91, 156 b, 10X4, 2X6) and Piyush Chawla (88, 71b, 16X4, 1X6) thwarted Rajasthan bowlers by putting on 127-run sixth-wicket partnership together.
Even the tail chipped in with valuable runs with Bhuvneshwar Kumar scoring 27 and Praveen Gupta remaining not out on 34 to steer the team to 492.
For Rajasthan, right-arm googly bowler Vivek Yadav was the most successful, finishing with 5 for 121, while Deepak Chahar ended with the figures of 4 for 144 in his marathon 43-over spell.
Meanwhile, Pankaj Singh completed his 200 wickets in first-class cricket after getting rid of Chawla.
Brief scores: UP 492 (Parvinder Singh 91, Arish Alam 69, Piyush Chawla 88; Vivek Yadav 5 for 121, Deepak Chahar 4 for 144) vs Rajasthan 119 for 2 (Rabin Bisht 44*, Rashmi Parida 43*; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2 for 30)