White ball dashers Rinku Singh (71 batting) and Dhruv Jurel (54 batting) curbed their natural flamboyance and morphed into red ball grinders to carry Uttar Pradesh out of the woods on day one of their Ranji Trophy cricket match against Kerala at the SD College ground here on Friday.
Their unbroken 120-run sixth-wicket stand stalled Kerala’s hopes of wrapping the innings quickly after it had reduced Uttar Pradesh to 124 for five. The visitors ended the day in a position of comfort, reaching 244 for five, when play was called off for bad light.
Rinku, after surviving a half chance early in his innings, batted with assurance on the tricky surface. The left-hander played the deliveries on merit and flayed the loose balls. He brought up his fifty in style, depositing Jalaj Saxena over long on for a six.
Dhruv was very much the silent partner in the blossoming partnership early on. However, Dhruv displayed his range of strokes on both sides of the wicket to compliment Rinku as the duo frustrated the host in the final session.
Earlier, overnight rain and bad light delayed the start by one-and-half hours. Uttar Pradesh skipper Aryan Jayal bravely chose to bat under a cloudy sky. M.D. Nidheesh, who troubled the openers early with his bounce, trapped opener Samarth Singh (10) in front with a delivery that barely rose above the batter’s knee.
Aryan, on eight, survived a chance early when Rohan Kunnummal dropped him in the slips off Nidheesh. But the batter couldn’t cash in on his reprieve, as he feathered a catch to wicketkeeper Vishnu Vinod off Vaisakh Chandran for 28.
The UP skipper by then had added 58 runs for the second wicket with Priyam Garg to put the innings on track. Aryan’s dismissal triggered a mini collapse, as UP slipped from 75 for one to 124 for five in the second session.
Priyam looked set for a deserved half century but was beaten by a ball from Basil Thampi that kept low. Sachin Baby then took a flying catch at short leg off Jalaj to end Aksh Deep Nath’s stay in the middle.
IPL’s most expensive uncapped player Sameer Rizi (26) entertained the crowd by clubbing two fours and two sixes, but he fell trying to hit Shreyas Gopal for his third as the mishit was comfortably taken by Sanju in the deep. Rinku and Dhruv then got into their rescue act to thwart Kerala.
The scores: Uttar Pradesh — 1st Innings: Samarth Singh lbw b Nidheesh 10, Aryan Jayal c Vishnu b Vaisakh 28, Priyam Garg b Thampi 44, Aksh Deep Nath c Baby b Jalaj 9, Sameer Rizvi c Sanju b Shreyas 26, Rinku Singh batting 71, Dhruv Jurel batting 54; Extras (b-1, lb-1): 2; Total (for five wkts in 64 overs): 244.
Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-75, 3-85, 4-114, 5-124.
Kerala bowling: Thampi 14-0-60-1, Nidheesh 12-1-47-1, Vaisakh 15-2-15-1 Jalaj 14-1-51-1, Shreyas 9-1-33-1.
