Dagar’s century gives UP edge against Delhi

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Uttar Pradesh continued to ride on unheralded names as they kept themselves in front by posting a lead of 57 runs with four wickets in hand against Delhi after the second day of their Ranji Trophy opener at the Nehru Stadium here on Saturday.

If Imtiaz Ahmed’s five-for was the highlight of Day One for the hosts, it was left-hander Mukul Dagar who did all the talking with the bat, scoring his maiden first class hundred (116 off 214 balls) on the second day, powering the hosts to 292/6 in reply to Delhi’s 235.

The 21-year-old had the seasoned Mohammad Kaif (91 off 175) for company as the Delhi attack looked impotent during a major part of the day when the duo were at the crease.

However, it was pacer Sumit Narwal’s (3/48) post-tea spell that brought some balance to the match.
Resuming at 40/1, Dagar and Kaif began assuredly for the hosts. Delhi pacer Ishant Sharma (2/63) looked largely unimpressive and it was only towards the end of the day that he managed to bag the wicket of Bhuvneshwar Kumar to add to the scalp of Tanmay Srivastava on Friday.

With Ashish Nehra and Pradeep Sangwan also failing to provide the breakthrough, Dagar and Kaif took their team to a position of strength with their 196-run partnership for the second wicket.

Post lunch, Dagar came out aggressively and hit a flurry of boundaries to enter the 90s. His century came when he punched left-arm spinner Vikas Mishra for three runs.

The partnership was broken when Kaif was adjudged leg before to Mishra when UP were just five runs short of taking a first innings lead. Seven more were added when Narwal finally got rid of Dagar to reduce the hosts to 239/3.

He followed it up with the scalps of Parvinder Singh and Arish Alam to bring some cheer for his team. Skipper Suresh Raina (batting 19) and wicketkeeper Amir Khan (batting 4) thwarted any further damage.

Delhi skipper Virender Sehwag had an injury scare while fielding in the slip cordon during the second session but Coach Vijay Dahiya said later that he will be fit to play in the second innings.