Aakash Chopra not out 128, Delhi 257 for 6 against UP

New Delhi, Dec 1 (UNI) Ignored for the Test series against South Africa, former Team India opener Aakash Chopra sent a strong message with an unbeaten 128 as hosts Delhi ended day one of their Ranji Trophy match against Uttar Pradesh on 257 for six here today.

Opting to bat first, Delhi received an early jolt when Shalabh Srivastav removed opener Shikhar Dhawan (6) but Chopra and Mayank Tehlan (25) put on 61 runs to steady the innings.

Praveen Kumar broke the partnership by trapping Tehlan and after another eight runs were added to Delhi's total, the lanky pacer struck again by castling host captain Manhas. Delhi found itself in morass at 79 for three.

Viraat Kohli (42) then joined Chopra to stem the rot and put on 84 runs for the fourth wicket as the hosts cruised to 143 when Rohit Srivastav's direct throw from square leg caught Viraat short of ground.

Next man in Rajat Bhatia (32), however, played sensibly and he, along with Chopra, guided the team to 179 for four at tea.

After the new ball was taken, Praveen Kumar again came up with a two wicket burst in the 85th over to deny Delhi a clear upper hand in the match.

He first uprooted Bhatia's leg stump with the second ball of the over and then trapped Vijay Dahia for a three-ball duck to reduce the hosts to 245 for six.

Chopra's patient and cultured, unbeaten knock of 128 was the result of more than six hours' of patience during which he faced 269 balls and had 14 hits to the fence.

He square-cut leggie Piyush Chawla to reach his century in 222 balls and had hit 10 boundaries by then.

In the final session of the day, Chopra stamped his class by hitting spinner Shivkant Shukla for successive boundaries -- the first being an exquisite straight drive, followed by an impeccable on drive.

The unassuming opener later denied that the ton, his 16th in first class cricket, was a message to the selectors who preferred his teammate Gautam Gambhir over him for the Test series against South Africa.

''It was a very dear knock for me and I'm happy that I played a chanceless knock. But it was not any message for the selectors.

''They have picked Gautam over me and I wish Gautam all the best,'' Chopra added .

Scoreboard: Delhi 1st innings (Overnight 257 for 6) Aakash Chopra c Yadav b Piyush Chawla 150 Shikhar Dhawan c Shukla b Shalabh Srivastava 6 Mayank Tehlan lbw b Praveen Kumar 25 Mithun Manhas b Praveen Kumar 7 Viraat Kohil run out 42 Rajat Bhatia b Praveen Kumar 32 Vijay Dahiya lbw b Praveen Kumar 0 Chetanya Nanda lbw b RP Singh 0 Ashish Nehra b RP Singh 19 Rahul Sanghvi not out 0 Ishant Sharma lbw b Piyush Chawla 0 Extras (LB-3, W-1, NB-14) 18 Total (All out in 103.5 overs) 299 Fall of wickets: 1/10 2/71 3/79 4/163 5/245 6/245 7/258 8/298 9/299 Bowling: RP Singh 28-5-96-2 Shalabh Srivastava 18-2-59-1 Piyush Chawla 24.5-4-64-2 Praveen Kumar 29-5-62-4 Shivkant Shukla 4-1-15-0 Uttar Pradesh 1st innings: Rohit Prakash c Bisht (sub) b Ashish Nehra 39 Shivkant Shukla b Ishan Sharma 8 Tanmay Srivastav not out 72 Ravikant Shukla c Dahiya b Ashish Nehra 0 Rizwan Shamsad b Ishan Sharma 4 Jyoti Yadav lbw b Chetanya Nanda 16 Praveen Kumar not out 54 Extras (B-2, LB-2, NB-10) 14 Total (For 5 wickets in 64 overs ) 207 Fall of wickets: 1/36 2/77 3/79 4/92 5/125 Bowling: Ashish Nehra 18-1-76-2 Ishan Sharma 17-4-51-2 Chetanya Nanda 7-0-29-1 Rajat Bhatia 9-7-3-0 Rahul Sanghvi 13-1-44-0 UNI