As Uttar Pradesh approached Tamil Nadus first-innings total of 445,the dressing room was expectedly tense. Selector Gopal Sharma was so fidgety that he snatched a scorebook and started keeping a run count,skipper Mohammad Kaif was glued to his chair for the entire final session,and bowling coach Ashish Winston Zaidi tried to lighten the mood as he let out a shrill whistle every time a run was scored. But that didnt help since Piyush Chawla sat next to him with with his hands clasped and eyes closed,constantly looked heavenwards. But there was one man in the UP camp who didnt allow the nerves to bother him. Shivakant Shukla didnt want his eight-hour long knock,spread over three days,to end in well-tried consolations. Playing the innings of his life,he scored an unbeaten 178 in company of nine different batting partners to meticulously plan UPs marathon chase. Though,it was number 10 Praveen Guptas fearless cover drive off Laxmipathy Balaji that took UP across Tamil Nadus first-innings mark and booked their place in the Ranji finals,it was Shukla who got mobbed by his mates after the cliffhanger on the final day. Such was the sense of relief in the UP camp that Kaif didnt hide his surprise after this narrow escape to victory. I never thought that Shivakant and Parvinder will play for so long. Frankly,when we lost Tanmay,Raina and myself,I thought it was time to pack our bags. But Shiva proved everybody wrong, he said. It was quite understandable why Kaif needed to pinch himself after Shuklas unexpected match-winning contribution. The days hero,like Kaif,hails from Allahabad and the two have had a long association since the age-group days and Shukla has been known for no more than cameos,playing second lead to the bigger names in the batting department right through his career. He has represented the country at U-17 and U-19 levels,rubbing shoulders with the likes of Irfan Pathan,Robin Uthappa,Ambati Rayudu,Suresh Raina,RP Singh,Dinesh Karthik and Piyush Chawla during several junior India camps,but with no stand out show at that level,he never quite hit the headlines. Even at the Ranji level,hes been no more than an average player regularly making it to the XI but never scoring any defining knock. This Ranji semis against has TN changed it all. This has been a season of great batting feats and there are many who have scored more than the 178 that Shukla scored today. But considering the match and tournament situation,this knocks was among the best all season. Staring 192 behind the target,UP were in a tight spot this morning as Parvinder Singh,Bhuvneshwar Kumar,Piyush Chawla and Praveen Kumar were back in the hut with the team still needing 73 more runs to overtake TN. With Balajis deadly in-cutters creating a havoc,not just Shuklas batting skills that were being severely tested but his temperament too was under scrutiny. Wicketkeeper Aamir Khan (21) stayed back for a while added 48 runs with Shukla. But when Khan departed UP were still 21 runs away for a place in the final. But Praveen Gupta held firm to hit the winning runs,and it was tough to find Shukla as the wave from the UP dressing room engulfed him.
