Bowlers’ day out for UP in U-23 and U-16

LUCKNOW: It was bowlers’ day out for Uttar Pradesh against hosts Bengal on the opening day of the four-day Under-23 Col CK Nayudu Trophy in an Elite Group B, at the Bengal Cricket Academy Ground in Kalyani on Friday.

Sunil Kumar and Boby Yadav took three wickets each, whereas Wajid Ali bagged two crucial wickets to see Bengal getting out on paltry 75 in 38.5 overs on the opening day of the fourday encounter.

Barring Agniv Pan (30, 76b) and Subham Chatterjee (30, 76b) no other Bengal batsman could touch the double figure mark. Five of them even couldn’t open their accounts.

After losing opener Kazi Junaid Saifi in the second over on duck, Bengal kept losing wickets quite frequently.

It was different pitch totally when UP batsmen came out to bat in the first innings.

The ball was coming nicely, and allowed the visitors to strike the ball at ease for boundaries.

Skipper Shivam Chaudhary led from the front, hitting a fine 51 in 101 balls with the help of eight boundaries as UP took 53-run first innings lead.

He along with fellow opener Rahul S Rawat (47, 116b, 7x4) stitched together 96-run for the opening wicket before being bowled by Akash Deep. At the close of stumps, Rawat was batting with Abhishek Goswami (23*, 42b, 4x4) as UP finished the day at 128/1 in 43 overs.

JUNIOR BOWLERS TOO SHINE!

Uttar Pradesh bowlers also did great against host Chhattisgarh to take 60-run first innings lead by getting the rivals out for paltry 59 in 33.5 overs on the opening day of their three-day Central Zone Under-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy encounter, at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur.

Seamer Kunal Tyagi bagged his maiden five-wicket haul for 22, whereas Damandeep Singh claimed three for 14 before Aaquib Khan taking two for 22.

Table topper in the zone with nine points in two matches so far, Uttar Pradesh batsmen too enjoyed a good outing in the middle when they begun the run chase. Opener Aaradhya Yadav struck an unbeaten 59 with the help of seven fours, whereas other opener Satnam Singh made 40 in 77 balls with six boundaries.

Shivam Kumar (17*) was giving company to Aaradhya as Uttar Pradesh were 119/1 in 56 overs at the draw of stumps.