Zaheer Khan's seven wickets for 54 runs, including four wickets in eight deliveries, steered Uttar Pradesh's first innings collapse and give Mumbai a huge 157-run lead in the Ranji Trophy final at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Wednesday.
Zaheer Khan's seven wickets for 54 runs, including four wickets in eight deliveries, steered Uttar Pradesh's first innings collapse and give Mumbai a huge 157-run lead in the Ranji Trophy final at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Wednesday.
When Zaheer was brought on for his last spell, Uttar Pradesh were at 214 for 4. With Shivakant Shukla needing one run to complete his second successive ton and all-rounder Bhuvaneshwar Kumar striking the ball well, UP were very much in the hunt of Mumbai's first innings score of 402.
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However, Zaheer deprived Shukla of a ton, trapping the southpaw on 99.u00a0
Ajit Agarkar then got rid of Bhuvaneshwar (41) off the first ball of the next over. Sahil Kukreja, substituting for Sachin Tendulkar who has viral infection, accepted a sharp chance at first slip off Bhuvaneshwar's edge.
And then Zaheer struck twice in succession in successive overs to finish the UP innings for 245 from 239 for six.
R P Singh prevented Zaheer from taking a hat-trick after the pace spearhead forced Praveen Kumar (6) and Amir Khan (0) to nick to wicketkeeper Vinayak Samant off consecutive deliveries.
In the next over, Zaheer again got two off two when he fooled Piyush Chawla (18) and Praveen Gupta (0) off successive balls to pull curtains on the UP innings.
Zaheer now has a second chance to get a hat-trick. But for that, he will have to wait for UP's second innings to begin.
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