da spicy bet： The Central Zone Ranji Trophy match between Rajasthan and UttarPradesh was in an interesting stage at the end of the second day
Partab Ramchand31-Oct-2000The Central Zone Ranji Trophy match between Rajasthan and UttarPradesh was in an interesting stage at the end of the second day. Atthe KL Saini stadium in Jaipur on Tuesday, the hosts were 183 for fiveat stumps in reply to UP’s first innings total of 270.A fine all round show by AW Zaidi highlighted the day’s play. First hescored 53 at No 8 and played a leading role in UP, 196 for six whenthey resumed, reaching 270. The two overnight batsmen Zaidi and MohdSaif (67) added 68 runs for the seventh wicket. Though there wasprecious little batting after this, Zaidi kept the innings going untilhe was ninth out at 262 in the 120th over. While Saif batted fourhours, faced 202 balls and hit five of them to the ropes, Zaidi faced109 balls and hit five fours.When Rajasthan batted, Zaidi continued his good work with the ball andtook three of the first four wickets that fell with only 78 runsscored. Among them was the important wicket of skipper Gagan Khoda(20). Saket Bhatia and PK Kumar (41) then added 63 runs for the fifthwicket and finally Bhatia and Sanjeev Sharma put on 42 runs during anunbroken sixth wicket partnership till stumps. For his unbeaten 52,Bhatia has faced 98 balls and has had eight boundary hits. Sharma ison 22 and much will depend on this pair on Wednesday. Zaidi by closehad figures of three for 49. Play was stopped 3.2 overs early due tobad light.