Upendra Yadav double ton floors Mumbai as UP score mammoth 625/8
Wicketkeeper-batsman Upendra Yadav's maiden double ton propelled Uttar Pradesh to a mammoth 625/8 declared on the second day of their Elite Group B Ranji Trophy game against Mumbai on Monday.
Twenty three-year-old Yadav was the cynosure of all eyes at Wankhede Stadium as he took a listless Mumbai attack to the cleaners first in the company of Saurabh Kumar (44 off 47 balls; 8x4) and then with skipper Ankit Rajpoot (32 off 63 balls; 5x4) and Yash Dayal (41 not out).
Yadav (203 not out off 239 balls) conjured 72 runs for the seventh wicket with Saurabh to take the game away from Mumbai, and then forged 119-run eight-wicket stand with Rajpoot, as Uttar Pradesh took complete control.
Adding to Mumbai's woes, Yadav and Dayal put up an unbroken 131-run stand for the ninth wicket. Yadav, who registered the highest score by a number 7 batsman against Mumbai, smashed 27 fours and one six in his 239 balls unbeaten knock.
UP declared the innings as soon as Yadav reached his double hundred. Mumbai will rue the missed chances. Stumper Aditya Tare failed to pouch a thick edge off Saurabh's bat when he was on nine as Akash Parkar missed his third wicket. He got another 'life' on 15, when Bhupen Lalwani
dropped a sitter at first-slip. Saurabh made most of it as he played perfect second fiddle to Upendra, who was going all guns blazing. Saurabh was finally caught by Sarfaraz Khan off Royston Dias with UP at 375-7.
However, then Rajpoot, who survived for 62 balls, held one end allowing Yadav to play his shots. The duo was almost at the crease for three hours. Offie Shashank Attarde broke the stand after Rajpoot nudged to Tare even as UP had raced to 494. It was a valiant knock from Rajpoot, who was hit a couple of times on the helmet.
After Rajpoot's dismissal, Dayal and Yadav kept inflicting more agony.
Earlier, resuming at 281/4, overnight centurion AkshDeep Nath (115) was dismissed on the second ball after being yorked by medium-pacer Tushar Deshpande. Deshpande gave UP another blow after he trapped Rinku Singh (84) in front of the wicket, leaving it at 6-303.
However, Mumbai bowlers failed to make inroads as the UP lower-middle order batsmen made merry. In reply, Mumbai were teetering at 20-2 when stumps were drawn, trailing by 605 runs.
Brief Scores: Uttar Pradesh 625/8 declared (Upendra Yadav 203 not out; Akshdeep Nath 115; Royston Dias 3-103) v/s Mumbai 20/2. Mumbai trailed by 605 runs.
At Chennai: Railways 76 all out and 90 all out (Arindam Ghosh 22; R Sai Kishore 5-16, R Ashwin 3-26) v/s Tamil Nadu 330 (Abhinav Mukund 100, Dinesh Karthik 58; Harsh Tyagi 5-98). Tamil Nadu won by an innings and 164 runs.
At Dharamshala: Himachal Pradesh 496 (A P Vashisht 86, A R Kumar 80; Swapnil Singh 3/80) v/s Baroda 150/2 (Vishnu Solanki 85 not out; Vaibhav Arora 1-42). Baroda trailed by 346 runs.
At Indore: Saurashtra 344 (Sheldon Jackson 186, Cheteshwar Pujara 47; Gaurav Yadav 5/105) v/s Madhya Pradesh 183/5 (Yash Dubey 50 not out; Venkatesh Iyer 50 not out; Jaydev Unadkat 2-27). MP trailed by 161 runs.
