LUCKNOW, Jan. 23 -- Uttar Pradesh has had a different approach in the second half of the domestic season in the Under-23 Col CK Nayudu Trophy. They have a new leader in the form of aggressive batter Adarsh Singh and have the confidence of relying on their good run in the U-23 State A Trophy where Uttar Pradesh finished runners-up for the first time in December after losing to Tamil Nadu in the final. With one win and two losses, Uttar Pradesh, who now stand in fourth with 21 points in Group D behind Karnataka (28 points), Uttarakhand (23) and Himachal Pradesh (23), begin their campaign in the final phase of the event against hosts Chhattisgarh from Friday at Bhilai. This will be followed by a match against hosts Uttarakhand at Ramnagar from January 30 before hosting Chandigarh in their last league match at Kanpur's Green Park from February 6. Against Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh will be missing regular skipper Sameer Rizvi, who was the biggest star in the State A Trophy with 407 runs as the batter sustained injury in the quarter-finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. He is in rehab currently. Uttar Pradesh will also be missing Kartik Yadav, who took seven wickets in the State A Trophy and 29 wickets in the CK Nayudu Trophy, as the bowler has been drafted in the Ranji Trophy side for the remaining two matches of the season against Jharkhand and Vidarbha. The biggest buy for the upcoming IPL season, Prashant Veer, who scored 376 runs in the State A trophy, will also not be there as he is also part of the Ranji Trophy side. Despite the players not being there, coach Gyanendra Pandey is confident about the team's qualification to the knockouts. "Our second place finish in the State A Trophy in December is a big boost to the confidence of the boys and that happened after the first three matches of the Col CK Nayudu Trophy, and I feel that the boys are more charged up and looking for another podium finish in the category," said Pandey on the eve of the four-day encounter against Chhattisgarh. "In the State A Trophy every player put his best foot forward and it was a collective success of all. We missed the top finish by a whisker, but every moment of that journey taught us good and bad things about our game. Now, those learnings will help us take the right steps in the remaining three matches of the season and qualify for the knockouts." Pandey, who is one of the most successful coaches for Uttar Pradesh in the domestic cricket history, also said that the team will surely miss performers like Sameer Rizvi and Kartik Yadav against Chhattisgarh, but there are plenty of youngsters in the side who are capable enough....