RESULT
Group B, Kanpur, November 23 - 26, 2015, Ranji Trophy
272 & 295/7d
(T:342) 226 & 204/6

Match drawn

Player Of The Match
85
mayank-sidhana
Report

Uday, Mandeep consolidate Punjab's lead

Uday Kaul and Mandeep Singh struck fifities and made sure Punjab ended the third day against Uttar Pradesh in a position of strength despite hitting some speed bumps

Punjab 272 and 244 for 6 (Uday 89*, Mandeep 84) lead Uttar Pradesh 226 (Umang 49, Siddarth 4-82, Harbhajan 3-31) by 290 runs
Scorecard
Uday Kaul and Mandeep Singh made sure Punjab ended the third day against Uttar Pradesh in a position of strength despite hitting some speed bumps. On a day when either team could have seized the momentum to set up a win on the last day, Punjab first took a first-innings lead of 46 runs, and then accumulated 244 in the second innings to stretch the overall lead to 290, before bad light curbed the third day in a row. UP bowled well only in phases - first with the new ball and then in the second session to take three wickets in 13 overs - but things became easier for the Punjab batsmen as the pitch did not assist the bowlers the way it did on the first day.
Punjab and UP, who are among four teams to be stuck with 17 points in Group B, will be desperate to get six points and push for a quarter-final spot.
Mandeep and Uday did most of the work for Punjab in the first two sessions as they switched gears according to the conditions and the situation. They weathered a spell of 12 consecutive and probing overs from Praveen Kumar before lunch to soften the ball as the sun came out after an overcast morning. While Uday was patient and mostly defensive, Mandeep showed his aggression from the beginning by pulling Praveen for his first four, in the 13th over.
The two batsmen put on 124 runs after Punjab had lost their openers in consecutive overs to UP's pacers. Manan Vohra started briskly with two fours before he pulled Praveen straight to deep square leg and Imtiaz Ahmed drew Jiwanjot Singh's outside edge with an outswinger.
Punjab were left in a spot of bother at 28 for 2, but Mandeep and Uday showed confidence and steered the score past 150, not allowing UP to press the accelerator. Mandeep, who had scored three ducks in his last five innings, made sure that he capitalised on a good start this time.
Suresh Raina was forced to change his tactics, as he brought spinners from both ends about 40 minutes after lunch, and Mandeep cashed in further by shifting to accumulation mode. Piyush Chawla conceded nine runs from his first over, including two no-balls, and a four that brought up Mandeep's fifth-fifty plus score of the season. He soon launched left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar over long-on for six but was bowled by a flatter delivery only three balls later, for 84.
Seeing Yuvraj Singh walk out next, Raina replaced Chawla with Praveen, gifting the crowd another PK-Yuvi show. Yuvraj went about his innings fluently, taking three fours and a six off Praveen in consecutive overs. He started by steering one off the pads, one through the covers, and a back-foot cut before Praveen switched ends and Yuvraj unleashed a six on the leg side.
But Yuvraj's show ended when Ankit Rajpoot trapped him lbw with a short ball; a decision that left the batsman seemingly unhappy. To make things worse for Punjab, first-innings top-scorer Mayank Sidhana swatted Praveen to midwicket for a straightforward catch for 4 in the last over before tea with the score reading 197. The loss of five wickets meant Punjab's score was not commanding, but their lead of 243 meant they were well ahead.
Punjab were hardly troubled after tea. With Mandeep gone, Uday took charge as the main run-scorer and pushed Punjab's score past 200, and lead towards 300, by scoring 36 runs from 52 balls with five fours, in the last session. He took minimal risk, played most of his shots along the ground, and nudged the ball easily in the gaps as UP tried several bowlers in pursuit of breakthroughs. Gitansh Khera fell when he gave an easy catch to over off a leading edge at the score of 239 but Punjab had consolidated their position by then.
UP's assistant coach Mritunjay Tripathi, however, was confident of his team staging a comeback on the last day, saying that they would not hesitate to chase a target beyond 300. "If we can get them out in the morning and have a target of 300-350, it's chaseable in about 80 overs. We'll try our best and go for it. We'll go with a positive intent and win hopefully."
Earlier, Siddarth Kaul foiled UP's plans to minimise the deficit, from their overnight 205 for 8, by removing Imtiaz and Rajpoot in quick succession, even as Saurabh collected boundaries at the other end. The hosts were eventually bowled out for 226.

Vishal Dikshit is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

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Ranji Trophy
Group A
TEAMMWLDPTNRR
VIDAR8422290.047
BENG8206280.110
ASSAM832326-0.304
DELHI8314250.215
KNTKA8215240.336
RAJ823317-0.313
MAHA8125170.301
ODSA8134120.016
HRYNA80446-0.406
Group B
TEAMMWLDPTNRR
MUM8404350.851
PNJB8323260.045
MP832324-0.059
GUJ831424-0.092
UP821521-0.117
TN822418-0.322
BRODA823317-0.045
RLYS8260120.039
AP804410-0.459
Group C
TEAMMWLDPTNRR
SAU851236-0.061
JHK8422310.088
HP8314301.013
SVCS8314270.472
KER8224250.084
GOA811618-0.210
J + K80359-0.053
HYD80268-0.467
TPURA80533-0.760