Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh duo Zeeshan Ansari and Kartik Yadav spun a web around Puducherry as UP enforced the follow-on after bundling out the hosts for 172 in 68.1 overs shortly after tea on the third day of their first innings.Puducherry managed to survive the remaining 11 overs of the day, scoring 39 runs, with skipper Neyan Kangayan and Ritesh Gudge batting on 20 and 18, respectively. The hosts still trailed by 122 runs, with all 10 wickets intact. Earlier, resuming at their overnight score of 328 for nine, with Karan Sharma unbeaten on 162 and Vansh Chaudhary yet to open his account, Uttar Pradesh added just five runs before Aman Hakim Khan dismissed Karan. UP’s first innings ended at 333 in 124.5 overs.For Uttar Pradesh, Zeeshan Ansari and Kartik Yadav emerged as the chief destroyers, taking four and three wickets, respectively, while Yash Dayal chipped in with two.Speaking to TOI, Zeeshan Ansari said, “All our bowlers performed well. Our aim was to enforce the follow-on, and that was the target we had set. My role was to break partnerships as soon as a batter started settling in. My bowling also came out well. I used all my variations, and there was quite a bit of bounce in the surface. We got them out after tea, and now the aim is to dismiss them quickly tomorrow and secure full points, as those points will be very important for our team going forward. It is not an easy wicket to bat on, and we want to bowl them out before they can get near the target.”Meanwhile, Kartik Tyagi said, “Tomorrow, we have to bowl them out somehow and secure full points. All our bowlers are in good rhythm.”UP coach Gyanendra Pandey said, “Zeeshan, Kartik and Vansh bowled brilliantly after a fine spell by Yash in the morning. We will look to bowl Puducherry out quickly tomorrow to claim full points.”
