Top-order batters let UP down in quarters
LUCKNOW: Top-order batting failure let last year’s runner-up and former joint champions Uttar Pradesh down as spirited Himachal Pradesh posted a fivewicket win in the quarterfinals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy in Jaipur on Tuesday.
The top four, including openers Abhishek Goswami, keeperbatter Aryan Juyal, skipper Karan Sharma and Sameer Rizvi were out cheaply to leave Uttar Pradesh struggling at 39/4. UP failed to recover from this position and was eventually restricted to just 207/9 after being asked to bat first on a grassy track of the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. In reply, HP romped home in 45.3 overs, losing five wickets.
Playing his first game of the tournament, Goswami (17, 24b, 3x4) couldn’t read a quick one from pacer Sidharth Sharma before being trapped in front of the wicket, whereas Juyal (9, 24b, 1x4) was out trying to play an over-enthusiastic shot only to have his middle stump uprooted by Vinay Galetiya.
Skipper Sharma (0) played four balls with a straight bat but missed a swinging one from Galetiya to be trapped leg before wicket and Rizvi (5, 20b) did the same mistake against Galetiya and faced a similar exit.
With Uttar Pradesh tottering at 39 for four in 14.3 overs, Akshdeep Nath and inform Rinku Singh tried to steady the innings, but runs were hard to come by. Nath took nine balls to open his account as HP pacers, including skipper Rishi Dhawan were right on target, giving no room to UP batters to free their arms. The two kept the scoreboard ticking with ones and twos and occasional boundaries.
The duo stitched a 64-run partnership for the fifth wicket before Nath offering a straight catch to Pankaj Jaswal at short mid-on off an uppish delivery from Sidharth Sharma in the 32nd over. Nath’s 65-ball 32 was studded with two boundaries.
Despite the fall of wickets at the regular intervals, left-hander Singh showed immense patience picking the loose deliveries to score runs with a cautious approach. He along with Team India pacer Bhuvaneshwar Kumar added 75 runs for the sixth wicket and if the two had not batted patiently, Uttar Pradesh couldn’t have crossed the 150-run mark.
Singh perished looking for quick runs. Singh trying an innovative shot off Jaswal in the 47th over managed to lob a catch to Akash Vasisht at point region after scoring 76, which came off 102 balls with the help of six hits to the fence. Bhuvneshwar, too, didn’t last long and soon departed after being bowled by Dhawan. His 52-ball 46 contained three fours and only six of the UP’s innings.
HP pacers made full use of the cool breeze and moisture on the surface early in the game as Galetiya finished with 3/19, whereas Sharma and Jaswal shared four wickets between them.
HP batters never looked in a hurry while chasing a 208-run target with the same pitch getting easy for them in the second half of the day. Both Bhuvaneshwar and Yash Dayal though kept beating the HP batters outside the off stump with swinging deliveries. HP openers Shubham Arora and Prashant Chopra didn’t lose their cool and scored 54-run for the first wicket.
Even after losing Arora (19, 39b, 2x4) in the 18th over with Kumar taking an easy catch at fine leg boundary off Shivam Mavi, HP batters Chopra and Nikhil Gangta kept the scoreboard ticking on the expected pace, adding 122-run for the second-wicket.
Prashant remained unlucky to be out for 99, which came off 141 balls with the help of 10 fours and two sixes. He offered a straight catch to Nath at mid-on inside the 30-yard circle off Mavi, while Gangta was bowled by Rajpoot after stroke-filled 59-ball 58 (5x4, 3x6).
These two wickets in quick succession didn’t make a difference as HP romped home in 45.3 overs, storming the Vijay Hazare Trophy semi-finals only for the second time. This is the first time that HP has defeated Uttar Pradesh in the event. For UP, Mavi finished with 3/34, whereas Rajpoot bagged 2/52.
TN TRIUMPH
Meanwhile, in the other quarterfinals of the day, Tamil Nadu defeated Karnataka by 151 runs after scoring 354/8. Opener Narayan Jagadeeshan’s 101-ball 102 (9x4, 1x6) remained the biggest highlights of the TN’s batting.
In reply, Karnataka could score 203 in 39 overs with Raghupathy Silambarsan (4/36) and Washington Sundar (3/43) bowling superbly.