Muskan’s ton helps UP notch up second win in U-19 one day
LUCKNOW : Leading from the front skipper Muskan Malik slammed a superb century to help favourites Uttar Pradesh crush Jharkhand by 91 runs in their Women’s Under-19 One Day Trophy match at Gwalior on Monday. This was UP’s second win in as many as matches in Elite Group B.
Aligarh’s Malik struck 126ball 112 with the help of 16 hits to the fence to guide Uttar Pradesh post a healthy 235/9 in 50 overs while batting first after winning the toss, at the MPCA Ground in Gwalior, and then restricted Jharkhand for 144/7 in 50 overs with Parshavi Chopra bagging 3/21.
Jharkhand girls never found the chasing easy as they kept losing wickets. Skipper and opener Priya Kumari, who stroked 84-ball 32 with the help of four boundaries, remained the highest run getter for the side. She was trapped leg before wicket by Chopra. Keeper-batswoman Ila Khan also contributed 30, which came off 55 balls with the help of two fours.
Chopra remained most consistent with white ball for UP, bagging 3/21, whereas Rekha and Archana Devi shared two wickets between them.
In fact, it was a shaky start for Uttar Pradesh as opener Nishi Kashyap was run out on duck in the third over and scoreboard read just 2/1 in 2.4 overs.
But a solid 118-run secondwicket partnership between Malik and fellow opener Ayushi Srivastava kept the scoreboard ticking on a fast pace.
Lucknow’s Ayushi, who remained the star performer in team’s thrilling two-wicket win against Andhra in the opening match on Sunday with a fine half-century, showed her might with willow again, hitting 74-ball 42, which contained six hits to the fence.
Even the departure of Ayushi, who was bowled by Priya Kumari, didn’t make any difference to an aggressive Malik, who went on adding 67-run for the fourth-wicket with Pooja Rajput, who before being trapped leg before wicket, scored 33 in 41 balls with the help of three boundaries.
Though last four UP batswomen couldn’t touch the double figure mark, Malik’s knock helped the side cross 200-run mark. Anjali (2/23) and Priti Kumari (2/51) could impress the UP batswomen.
With eight points in two wins, Uttar Pradesh now meet Hyderabad in their next match on Thursday.