Anjali, Rishika put UP almost in final
LUCKNOW : Anjali Singh and Rishika Yadav bowled superbly to guide favourites Uttar Pradesh beat mighty Punjab by seven wickets to almost make it to the final of the Women’s Under-19 Twenty20 League at Mulapadu on Tuesday.
Anjali took three for 11, whereas Rishika claimed three for 18 as Uttar Pradesh managed to get Punjab restrict at 104/8 in 20 overs after being asked to field first.
In reply, UP romped home in 18 overs, losing just three wickets. Sonam Yadav and Juhi Pandey shared two wickets between them.
With this win, UP top the Super League Group A table with 12 points, which they earned after winning all three matches so far. Now, they meet lowly Himachal Pradesh in their last league match on Thursday, before playing in the final on November 3 at Guntur.
On a placid turf of the Chukkapalli Pitchiah Cricket Ground, both leading bowlers Anjali and Rishika didn’t allow Punjab batswomen to free their arms.
Though opener Amanjot Kaur struck 57-ball 50 with the help of 10 fours, and Anjali made 22 in 17 balls with four hits to the fence, others found the going tough as both Anjali and Rishika were on target.
Chasing 105 in as many as 120 balls never looked a problem for Uttar Pradesh as their batswomen enjoyed the outing in the middle. Even after losing opener Muskan Malik (11, 29b) in the seventh over, UP kept racing towards target at ease.
Other opener Shobha Devi (35, 25b, 3x4) and Neetu Gaur (31*, 33b, 3x4) stitched together 49-run for the second wicket to make things easy. Avreet took 2/21 for Punjab.
APPOINTED
Lucknow’s Shaiendra Pratap Singh and AP Singh of Kanpur have officially been named scorers for the second Twenty20 match between India and West Indies, scheduled to be played here on November 6.
SP Singh, who has been the only Grade A scorer of BCCI in Uttar Pradesh, has already done scoring in over 150 domestic and international matches.
Three others from Uttar Pradesh i.e. Ramji Yadav of Kanpur and Akhilesh Tripathi of Allahabad and Vikas Pandey of Lucknow would also be stationed on duty of scoring in different sections in the match.