Gutsy Parvinder takes UPCA to 206/5 after WI score 466

A gritty unbeaten half-century by Parvinder Singh helped Uttar Pradesh overcome a jittery start as they reached 206 for five in their first innings at the close of second day`s play in the three-day practice match against the visiting West Indies on Friday.

Kolkata: A gritty unbeaten half-century by Parvinder Singh helped Uttar Pradesh overcome a jittery start as they reached 206 for five in their first innings at the close of second day`s play in the three-day practice match against the visiting West Indies here on Friday.

West Indies have scored a healthy 466 in their first innings courtesy a patient 112 by veteran Shivnarine Chanderpaul and an impressive 94 by Narsingh Deonarine. Right-arm medium pacer Imtiaz Ahmed was pick of the UP bowlers with figures of five for 117. Veteran India discard left-arm pacer Rudra Pratap Singh took three for 86. The stockily built right-hander Parvinder quickly settled down after West Indies reduced UPCA to 96 for four as he remained undefeated on a well-crafted 78. Along woth Prashant Gupta (39), Parvinder added 107 runs for the fifth wicket to stem the rot that was engineered by left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul (2/61). At stumps, Parvinder who hit 11 boundaries and two sixes was at the crease with wicketkeeper-batsman Amir Khan as UP still trail West Indies by 260 runs with warm-up game slowly and steadily seemed to be meandering towards a predictable draw. Earlier, the match began an hour late because of wet outfield as the West Indies, resuming the day at 333 for four went past 450-run mark which also gave them much needed batting practice ahead of two-Test series against India. Their most experienced batsman Chanderpaul, who was nine short of his 68th first-class hundred, got to the mark in a 197-run fifth wicket partnership with Deonarine who was dismissed six runs short of what would have been a well-deserved century. Seamer Ahmed, who had impressed on the first day by picking up a couple of wickets, including that of Chris Gayle, added wickets of Chanderpaul (112; 15x4, 2x6) and Deonarine (94; 10x4, 2x6) in successive overs after UPCA took the second new ball in the 81st over.