da aposte e ganhe： A ninth wicket partnership of 82 runs between Avinash Yadav (60 notout) and Praveen Gupta (44) helped Uttar Pradesh to gain the firstinnings lead on the second day of their four day Vijay Merchant Trophy(under-16) final against Delhi at the Eden
Staff Reporter14-Jan-2001A ninth wicket partnership of 82 runs between Avinash Yadav (60 notout) and Praveen Gupta (44) helped Uttar Pradesh to gain the firstinnings lead on the second day of their four day Vijay Merchant Trophy(under-16) final against Delhi at the Eden Gardens in Calcutta onSunday.Resuming at 42 for two in reply to Delhi’s 155, UP lost wickets atregular intervals. Aris Alam batted doggedly for 226 minutes and faced180 balls in compiling 39. He hit seven fours. Taheer Abbas, who hadretired hurt on Saturday, resumed at the fall of the first wicket onSunday but was out for 33. The middle order offered little resistanceas Kuldeep Rawat and Abhinav Bali got among the wickets. At 127 foreight, UP were still some distance away from the Delhi total.However, Yadav and Gupta put up some stout hearted defence and alsokept the score moving. Even the second new ball, taken after 90 overswith the score at 143 for eight, did not disturb their composure. Thepair took the score to 209 before Gupta was out to Niraj Sharma. Hefaced 102 balls and hit eight fours. The partnership lasted 31.5overs. Last man Devendra Singh then helped Yadav add a further 28 runsoff 17 overs before he was out for ten. Yadav remained unbeaten withan invaluable 60. He faced 163 balls and hit eight fours. The bowlinghonours were shared by Kuldeep Rawat (4 for 48) and Abhinav Bali (3for 45). Delhi, facing a deficit of 82 runs will start their secondinnings on Monday.