Lucknow: Left-arm spinner Kartik Yadav’s six-wicket haul put Uttar Pradesh on the verge of an outright win, but bad light forced their Ranji Trophy match against hosts Puducherry to end in a draw at the Siechem Stadium on Thursday.UP, who had taken the first-innings lead, collected three points from the match, while Puducherry took one. Uttar Pradesh now stand third in the Group A table with 16 points from three matches.Following on, Puducherry resumed their second innings at 39/0 after 11 overs, with skipper Neyan Kangayan and Ritesh Gudge at the crease. The pair showed resistance and added 62 runs off 136 balls for the opening wicket before Vansh Chaudhary provided UP with the breakthrough, dismissing Neyan for 33 at 62/1 in 22.4 overs. Aman Khan then joined Gudge, and the duo built a crucial 48-run stand off 68 balls for the second wicket to keep Puducherry in the contest. However, Kartik broke the partnership by removing Gudge for 41 at 110/2 in 33.6 overs. From there, Kartik took charge. Mohit Kale was bowled by the left-arm spinner at 116/3 in 35.4 overs. Aman continued to resist and added 29 runs off 59 balls with Ankit Sharma for the fourth wicket. Aman struck a fine 62 off 67 balls before Vansh dismissed him at 145/4 in 45.3 overs. Kartik then ran through the middle and lower order, dismissing Nikhil Gangta (12), Prasad Pawar (6), Sagar Trivedi (2) and Karan Kannan (10) as Puducherry came under pressure. Ankit Sharma remained unbeaten on 38, while Sagar Udeshi was yet to score when poor visibility forced the umpires to call stumps 30 minutes early. Puducherry finished at 211/8.Kartik returned figures of 6/42 in the second innings and a match haul of nine wickets. He said, “I was simply sticking to my process. This is my first six-wicket haul in the Ranji Trophy and a matter of great pride. The pitch was offering assistance, but it settled down in the afternoon, so we bowled with discipline after lunch.”Meanwhile, UP coach Gyanendra Pandey said, “Our team performed well overall. The match began under difficult weather conditions on the first day, and today we missed out on an outright win because of bad light. Still, our players did very well—Vansh and Kartik picked up wickets, and the rest of the bowlers also bowled with discipline and quality.”
