Bad light and Uttar Pradesh’s reluctance to go for an outright win presented a soporific final day which was headlined by Priyam Garg’s century (106). The players shook hands after an extended post-Lunch session which saw glimpses of Kuldeep Yadav’s sublime skills.
Kerala, after being set an improbable target of 382 by Uttar Pradesh in under two sessions, reached 72 for two when the match was called off. Uttar Pradesh, for the first innings lead, took three points while Kerala one from the drawn encounter at the SD College ground on Monday.
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Uttar Pradesh’s quest for quick runs in the morning suffered a reverse when it lost skipper Aryan Juyal (115) early. Basil Thampi won a leg-before decision in his favour when Juyal was rapped on the pads. The light faded rapidly, forcing umpires to stop play, and a 50-minute stoppage ended whatever little ambition UP had for forcing an outright win.
When play resumed, Garg and Aksh Deep Nath batted sedately, with the former progressing to his hundred without any fuss. The pitch was easy paced and bowling amiable as Garg and Nath raised 103 runs for the third wicket. Uttar Pradesh declared the innings when Garg fell leg-before to Shreyas Gopal for 103.
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It was a forgettable match for debutant Krishna Prasad, who bagged a pair. Krishna had a nervous stay in the middle and was cleaned up by a faster ball from Saurabh Kumar. Kuldeep, with his variety, challenged the batters, but Rohan Kunnummal (42) and Rohan Prem (29 not out) survived to add 57 runs for the second wicket. Kunnummal looked more fluent of the two batters and stroked a few crisp boundaries.
But when the opener stepped out to Kuldeep, he was beaten in flight and the leading edge was snapped up by Yash Dayal at point.
Kerala will play Assam in its next match at Guwahati while Uttar Pradesh meets Bengal in Kanpur.
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