UP notch up fourth win, almost certain for knockout in U23 Trophy
LUCKNOW, Nov. 18 -- Spirited Uttar Pradesh continued to dominate in the Men's U23 State A Trophy, notching up their fourth consecutive win on Monday, registering a thrilling two-wicket win over favourites Vidarbha, at the Anantam Ground in Jaipur.
The win, however, helped Gyanendra Pandey-coached side to race to the top position in the Elite Group D with 16 points. Now, Uttar Pradesh play their penultimate league match against Tamil Nadu on Wednesday before playing their final league match against Tripura on Friday.
After a fine show by the bowlers, especially Prashant Veer (3/39), Akshu Bajwa (2/40) and Abdul Rehman (2/45), which helped Uttar Pradesh skittle out Vidarbha for 232 in 46.2 overs while fielding first after winning the toss, batters too did their jobs nicely, guiding the side home with 10 balls to spare. Rituraj Sharma and Ritik Vats shared two wickets between them.
Undoubtedly, it was a stunning win as Uttar Pradesh batters showed a great temperament of a strong comeback even after tottering at 4/40 in the 10th over. Openers Adarsh Singh (2), Swastik Chikara (13), Kavya Teotia (15) and Chaitanya Parashar (3) departed in quick succession.
But as expected skipper Sameer Rizvi along with experienced batter Rituraj Sharma began the repairing work, stitching together 58 runs for the fifth wicket before Sharma being bowled by Sahil Sheikh after making 46-ball 27, which contained three hits to the fence.
This didn't stop Rizvi from making his shots as he first added 26 runs for the sixth wicket with Prashant Veer (10, 23b, 1x4) and another 46 runs for the seventh wicket with Akshu Bajwa (33, 27b, 3x4, 2x6).
When Rizvi departed in the 34th over after making 71-ball 63 with the help of five boundaries and three sixes after being trapped LBW by Sanskar Chavate, Uttar Pradesh still needed 63 runs to win with three wickets in hand. And all-rounder Ritik Vats then put his best foot forward, hitting an unbeaten run-a-ball 45 with the help of five boundaries and take the side home in 48.2 overs.
Hosts and former champions Uttar Pradesh continued to dictate terms even on the second day of their four-day Elite Group D encounter of the Cooch Behar Trophy, leaving visitors Chandigarh struggling at 89/5 in their second innings after conceding 367-run first innings lead, at the Solitaire Cricket Ground in Saharanpur on Monday.
Young pacer Yash Panwar led from the front to bag 3/19 to put Uttar Pradesh almost on the verge of winning their first match of the season. In the fifth over of the innings, Panwar got the wicket of opener Balraj Singh, caught by Kaif Rehman after scoring just 10 with two boundaries before edging fellow opener Rupesh Yadav (18) for a straight catch to Aditya Kumar.
Other bowler Aditya Kumar Singh hurled the next blow on the rivals, removing Abhimanyu (23, 51b, 3x4) being caught by Kaartikaya Singh before Panwar trapped Markanday Panchal (1) leg before the wicket. And just before the end of Day Two proceedings, Ravi Saini put breaks on Sarthak Kamal's struggle by trapping him LBW. He made 12 in 74 balls with the help of one boundary.
Captain-keeper Ehit Salaria (13) and Aditya (0) were the crease at the draw of stumps. Now, Uttar Pradesh look almost certain for a big win and it would be a tough task for Chandigarh boys to avoid the defeat when the penultimate day's game begins on Tuesday.
Earlier, overnight Uttar Pradesh batters made full use of the home conditions to post a huge 431 in 112.3 overs in their first innings after resuming at the overnight score of 257/3. Whereas debutant Aayan Akram, who had five wickets in the first innings, smacked 63-ball 57 with the help of nine hits to the fence before being bowled by Mohd Zaid, other overnight batter and opener Anmol Noushran struck a sparking hundred, which came off 264 balls with the help of seven hits to the fence....
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