Priyam, Saurabh star in UP’s big win Vs Vidarbha
Lanky batsman hit a ton, whereas left-arm orthodox spinner bags 6/25
LUCKNOW:A sparkling century by young Priyam Garg and a sixwicket haul by spinner Saurabh Kumar helped former champions Uttar Pradesh notch up a convincing 109-run win against last year’s Ranji Trophy champions Vidarbha to collect full points in a Vijay Hazare Trophy tie at Vadodara on Monday.
The win, however, take Uttar Pradesh points to 16 in six matches so far in the nine-team Pool B. After two abandoned matches in the beginning, this was UP’s third win in as many as four clean matches. Now, UP take on Odisha on Wednesday before playing the last game against Haryana on Thursday.
It was an amazing performance by both Garg and Kumar. Meerut boy Garg, who had amassed 800 plus runs in his debut Ranji Trophy season last year, smashed 158-ball 120 with the help of nine fours and four sixes to help Uttar Pradesh score a challenging 211 in 49 overs, at the GSFC Cricket Ground after the side chose to bat first after winning the toss.
Barring pacer Shivam Mavi (20, 31b, 1x4, 1x6) no other UP batsman could reach into the double figure mark as wickets kept falling on regular intervals from one end.
But away from this, lanky Garg kept mesmerizing Vidarbha bowlers with his eye-catching strokes all-round the ground. Contribution of 21 runs in the form of extras, which included 11 wides, also helped UP cross the 200-run mark.
AK Karnewar (3/38) and YR Thakur (3/41) were the most successful bowlers for Vidarbha, whereas DG Nalkande (2/41) and AA Wakhade (2/44) had two wickets each for the side.
After Garg’s magic with willow, it was left-arm spinner Kumar, who had topped last Ranji Trophy season with 51 wickets, to show his class. With Ankit Rajpoot forcing Vidarbha opener FY Fazal (0) for an edge to Rinku Singh in slips on the very fourth ball of the innings, Kumar started creating a web around the rival batsmen.
He had opener JM Sharma (7), veteran run-machine Wasim Jaffer (17), AV Wankhade (0), AK Karnewar (23, 53b, 1x4, 1x6), AA Sarvate (2) and YR Thakur (6) to see rivals bundling out for paltry 102 in 31.3 overs. DG Nalkande (26, 37b, 4x4) remained the highest run getters for Vidarbha.
Kumar finished with 6/25, whereas Rajpoot had 2/32. Shivam Mavi and Rinku Singh
shared two wickets between them. BRIEF SCORES Uttar Pradesh 211 in 49
overs (P Garg 120, S Mavi 20, AK Karnewar 3/38, YR Thakur 3/41, DG Nalkande 2/41, AA Wakhade 2/44) beat Vidarbha 102 31.3 overs (DG Nalkande 26, AK Karnewar 23, W Jaffer 17, S Kumar 6/25, A Rajpoot 2/32).
WINNING START
A sparkling half-century by opener Shashi and three-wicket haul by Aditi guided favourites Uttar Pradesh launch their campaign in the Senior Women’s Twenty20 Trophy with a thrilling six-run win against Himachal at Raipur on Monday.
Opener Shashi struck 69 in 59 balls with the help of 10 fours and two sixes as Uttar Pradesh after being sent to bat first, posted a challenging 132/3 in 20 overs, at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium.
Uttar Pradesh lost two quick wickets for just 23, but Shashi alongwith Aditi added 99-run for the third wicket to take the score beyond 100. Aditi remained unbeaten at 42, which came off 44 balls with the help of six hits to the fence.
Himachal had a better start in reply, but once Aditi came into action, things began changing dramatically as Himachal could make 126/7 then. Opener NM Chauhan struck run-a-ball 52 with the help of six fours and a six, whereas Neena M Chaudhary (26, 30b, 2x4) and SM Singh (21, 15b, 5x4) contributed well, but those weren’t enough to help the side reach home.
Now, Uttar Pradesh play their second match against Manipur on Tuesday.