Kanpur: Harsh Sahu's unbeaten knock of 100 runs helped Chhattisgarh to reach a respectable score of 8 for 247 runs against host UP on the opening day of their four-day Under-23 Col C K Nayudu trophy championship played at the Green Park stadium on Friday.
The visitors failed to get a good start from their openers and swiftly lost their top three wickets for 62 runs, but three modest yet valuable partnerships gave them respectability. Two of these were orchestrated by Sahu, who completed his century in 164 balls with 15 boundaries and one six.
They lost opener Shobhit Sharma for one in the fifth over when Shuaib Siddiqui caught him off pacer Kunal Tyagi. He secured another wicket when Abhijeet Tan was caught behind by Aaradhya Yadav on 16. Vijay Kumar thereafter claimed the wicket of Kivnoor Singh Chhabra for 9. Chhattisgarh lost all these three wickets in the pre-lunch session.
Harsh Sahu joined Ashish Kumar Daharia in the middle, and the duo crafted a 41-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Kunal Tyagi broke their partnership, claiming Ashish Kumar's wicket when he was caught by Rituraj Sharma.
Sahu remained steadfast at one end and received support from Deepak Yadav and captain Mayank Yadav, who contributed 24 and 25 runs respectively. Deepak was bowled by Vijay Kumar after facing 44 balls and hitting 4 boundaries. He and Sahu added 50 runs in their partnership.
Captain Mayank Yadav thereafter supported Sahu from the other end, and the pair added 57 runs in their eighth-wicket partnership. Prashant Veer broke their partnership, claiming Mayank Yadav's wicket when he was caught behind by Aaradhya Yadav after scoring 25 runs in 54 balls with 5 boundaries.
Vijay Kumar, at the fag end of the day, secured one more success claiming the wicket of Varun Singh Bhui for 3. At close, Harsh Sahu was batting on exactly 100, having completed his century in 151 balls and 216 minutes.
For UP, Vijay Kumar and Kunal Tyagi both captured 3 wickets each.
Brief score: Chhattisgarh first innings-8 for 247 (Ashish Kumar Dharia 37, Abhijeet Tan 16, Harsh Sahu batting 100, Deepak Yadav 24, Mayank Yadav 25, Kunal Tyagi 3 for 53, Vijay Kumar 3 for 59, Prashant Veer 1 for 26, Vijay Yadav 1 for 36).