Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan settle for a draw

The Central Zone Under-14 match at the Sukhadia Stadium in Bhilwara on the third and final day on Thursday ended in a draw with Uttar Pradesh taking home five points on the basis of the first innings lead. Rajasthan had to be content with three points.

Set to score 305 for a win, Rajasthan made a disastrous start losing opener Ravishankar (0) bowled by Pradeep. Rajasthan were in deeper trouble when Pradeep bowled Ankit Agarwal (0) with only 5 on the board. Then Atul Puri (14) and Sanjay Bharti (86) added 45 runs for the third wicket. After Atul's fall, Punit Yadav joined Sanjay to take the score on to 132 when Punit fell to Bharat. Thereafter, Rajasthan lost four quick wicket before stumps were drawn on the final day.

In their second innings, Uttar Pradesh openers AG Murtaza (122) and R Pandey (23) added a quick 42 off 8.5 overs. Then D Issrani (54) joined Murtaza to forge a 117 run second wicket partnership in 34.1 overs. Thereafter, Murtaza found company in RK Shukla (50 not out) to put on 96 runs for the third wicket in 19.1 overs. The fall of Murtaza prompted the UP skipper to declare the innings.

Earlier on the opening day, Uttar Pradesh won the toss and put up a fighting 245 on the board. The chief architect being AN Alam with a neatly compiled 108 off 165 balls. During his 218 minute stay Alam held the UP innings together even as wickets kept falling at the other end. In reply Rajasthan were all out for 196 runs giving a 49 run lead to UP.