UP slow… unsteady

At stumps,UP were 91 for 3 with Shukla unbeaten on 46,with Parvinder Singh — who played his part in that semi-final chase as well — yet to open his account at the other end.

When the UP duo resume their innings on Wednesday in the Ranji Trophy final at the Uppal Stadium,the only thing that will differ from the TN match is the quality of the bowlers they will face. Mumbai’s experienced pace spearhead Zaheer Khan is bowling at his best,while Ajit Agarkar and Dhawal Kulkarni have been on target.

Still trailing by 311 runs in the first innings,they will also have to counter the early swing that has tested the batsmen’s technique for the last two days.

Parvinder and Shukla put on 272 for the fourth wicket from a similar situation against Tamil Nadu in Nagpur last week,but Kaif admitted that repeating the feat won’t be easy. “We have hopes,but chasing a big total every time is not easy. We have done it twice in the last two games… we will have to play out the entire day to have any chance,” he said.

Kaif will know that Mumbai are not a team who offer a second chance. The rest of the chase will not be easy,just as the start wasn’t.

Mumbai had stretched their overnight total of 297 for 6 to 402,thanks once again to some sloppy work in the field,Zaheer and Dhawal Kulkarni adding a crucial 44 runs for the last wicket.

Zaheer Khan,who carried his batting form when he came out to bowl,ending the day with bowling figures of 13-10-11-2. His first wicket came when youngster Tanmay Srivastava tried to duck a short-pitched delivery,only to nick the ball to wicket-keeper Vinayak Samant. The next ball saw Raina going for a quick single and being beaten by Sairaj Bahutule’s direct hit from the covers.

Then followed a crucial 85-run stand,the runs coming at less than a trickle,for the third wicket between Shukla and Kaif. The pair played an extremely patient game,waiting for the occasional bad ball to score runs.

Just when it seemed like the duo would see it through to stumps,Kaif got a howler from umpire Ameesh Saheba. Zaheer got one to nip away from around the wicket,but while the umpire reckoned the ball had hit the edge of the bat,replays clearly showed there was no contact.

Kaif later expressed his disappointment,saying he and Shivakant Shukla had been batting pretty well. “We needed to build partnerships and were doing just that. It was an important phase of the match,but we all make mistakes. Such things happen in cricket,” he said.

Mumbai are firm favourites going into the third day,but at least UP have got two men who know what it takes out in the middle.