All-rounder Vipraj Nigam design UP’s entry to knockout
Just a fortnight ago, young Vipraj Nigam was a batter only, trying his luck for a place in the state’s under-19 squad. His 90 plus score in the practice match was good enough to fetch him a place in the side, but for the surprise of many the boy from Barabanki was inducted in the team as a “perfect” all-rounder after he impressed the selectors with his right-arm leg breaks at the nets of the Kamla Club Ground in Kanpur.
A regular face of the Lucknow’s UP Timber Club since long in the local cricket, Nigam’s all-round ability proved magical for defending champions Uttar Pradesh on Monday as he not only struck a fine halfcentury, but took four vital wickets to help the side enter Under-19 Vinoo Mankad Trophy knock-out, defeating mighty Delhi by five wickets in Chandigarh.
Right-hander Nigam finished with 137 runs, including a halfcentury, but his most striking point was his bowling as he took 14 wickets in five matches so far.
Besides Uttar Pradesh from Elite Group A, Andhra with 18 points topped the pool. Teams like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Hyderabad, Rajasthan, Haryana, Kerala, Vidarbha and Karnataka from other four Elite Groups as well as Nagaland from Plate Group made it to the knockouts. Uttar Pradesh will now play their pre-quarterfinal match against Nagaland as knockouts to be played from October 11 to 18 at Ahmedabad.
Nigam was a class apart as Uttar Pradesh lost two quick wickets for just 23 in 8.2 overs, but he didn’t lose his heart and kept stroking the ball nicely, stitching together 68-run for the third-wicket with Aaradhya Yadav (37, 58b, 3x4). Nigam though departed in the 32nd over after being bowled by Parteek, his 98-ball 61, which contained five hits to the fence and a six, and a vital 35-run stand for the fourth-wicket with Siddharth Yadav had almost put the side on winning track.
Siddharth once again underlined his potential as a classy middle-order batter, hitting unbeaten 53, which came off 63 balls with the help of three fours and equal numbers of sixes. He along with another unbeaten batter Ghanshyam Upadhyay (50, 44b, 6x5, 1x6) put the side home with 12 balls to spare.
In fact, it was a good toss to lose for UP at the Sector-16 Cricket Stadium. With pitch assisting more to slow bowlers, both Nigam and another leg spinner Damandeep Singh made Delhi batters life almost hell, especially after pacer Vijay Kumar (2/36) removed two openers Yash Bhatia(17) and Aditya Chaudhary (5) in consecutive overs to leave rivals struggling at 2/27.
A 72-run third-wicket stand between Yash Dhull (48, 49b, 6x4) and Aryan Dalal (72, 96b, 6x4, 1x6) though saw Delhi heading towards a challenging total, a double sword attack from UP in the form of Nigam (4/48) and Singh (3/50) dented their hopes as Delhi couldn’t complete 50-over quota, getting out for 213 in 47.4 overs.
WOMEN’S MISS OUT
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh women’s on Monday missed out a knockout berth on the basis of net run rate even after beating Mumbai by three wickets in their last match of Elite Group A in the Under-19 One Day Trophy, at the Ground C of Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot.
All three teams i.e. Hyderabad, Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh finished with 14 points each at the end of the league round. But Hyderabad with a net run rate of (+1.687) and Mumbai (+1.181) made it to the knockout, whereas UP with a net run rate of +0.642 failed to make the cut.
Batting first after winning the toss, Mumbai scored 206/6 in 50 overs, and Uttar Pradesh in reply romped home, losing seven wickets with three balls to spare. Sonam Yadav (2/27), Sonali Singh (2/43) and Archana Devi (1/26) took wickets for UP, whereas Tripti Singh (51, 118b, 5x4), Shikha (54, 72b, 2x4) and Rama Kushwah (30*, 34b, 4x4) did bulk of the scoring.