Published: Oct 01, 2015, 08:48 PM (IST)
Edited: Oct 02, 2015, 05:45 PM (IST)
Moradabad: Nineteen-year-old opener Almas Shaukat struck a century on his First-Class debut to take Uttar Pradesh to 260 for 2 against Madhya Pradesh on Day One of their Group B Ranji Trophy cricket match at Moradabad on Thursday. Shaukat received ample support from his opening partner Tanmay Srivastava, as the pair added 125 inside 44 overs in their first innings. While Srivastava eventually fell for 75, Shaukat remained unbeaten on 110, with 17 fours and one six from 274 balls, after the home side elected to bat at the Teerthanker Mahaveer University Ground. UPDATES: Uttar Pradesh vs Madhya Pradesh, Ranji Trophy 2015-16, Group B match, Day 1
MP also picked up the wicket of Himanshu Asnora — trapped lbw by Ankit Sharma — but Shaukat and Mohammad Saif (34 batting; 74 balls, 5×4) took Uttar Pradesh safely to stumps without any further damage. Uttar Pradesh gave little success to visiting team bowlers but the the scoring rate of the home side was very slow — at 2.88 runs per over. For Madhya Pradesh, pacer Ishwar Pandey and left-arm spinner Ankit Sharma took a wicket apiece.
The battle of the two Pradesh’s ought to make for some interesting viewing. With Praveen Kumar leading UP, the side will doubtless have his scrappy attitude. UP will dearly miss the services of their two stalwarts Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Suresh Raina, both of whom are on national duty. They have a lot of talent in their midst though; Piyush Chawla, Sarfaraz Khan, Kuldeep Yadav, and Tanmay Srivasatava have immense potential. On the other hand, Madhya Pradesh too have some serious talent in the midst with Ishwar Pandey, Jalaj Saxena, and Naman Ojha being regular fixtures of India A.
Brief scores:
Uttar Pradesh 260 for 2 in 90 overs (Almas Shaukat 110*, Tanmay Srivastava 75) vs Madhya Pradesh.
