A ninth wicket partnership of 82 runs between Avinash Yadav (60 not out) and Praveen Gupta (44) helped Uttar Pradesh to gain the first innings lead on the second day of their four day Vijay Merchant Trophy (under-16) final against Delhi at the Eden Gardens in Calcutta on Sunday.

Resuming at 42 for two in reply to Delhi's 155, UP lost wickets at regular intervals. Aris Alam batted doggedly for 226 minutes and faced 180 balls in compiling 39. He hit seven fours. Taheer Abbas, who had retired hurt on Saturday, resumed at the fall of the first wicket on Sunday but was out for 33. The middle order offered little resistance as Kuldeep Rawat and Abhinav Bali got among the wickets. At 127 for eight, UP were still some distance away from the Delhi total.

However, Yadav and Gupta put up some stout hearted defence and also kept the score moving. Even the second new ball, taken after 90 overs with the score at 143 for eight, did not disturb their composure. The pair took the score to 209 before Gupta was out to Niraj Sharma. He faced 102 balls and hit eight fours. The partnership lasted 31.5 overs. Last man Devendra Singh then helped Yadav add a further 28 runs off 17 overs before he was out for ten. Yadav remained unbeaten with an invaluable 60. He faced 163 balls and hit eight fours. The bowling honours were shared by Kuldeep Rawat (4 for 48) and Abhinav Bali (3 for 45). Delhi, facing a deficit of 82 runs will start their second innings on Monday.

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