Rinku fashions UP’s stunning win over Karanataka
LUCKNOW : Karan Sharma was the surprising choice for the vice-captaincy of the side when former champions Uttar Pradesh chose him for the last month’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Twent20 Trophy at Bengaluru.
Despite having players like Suresh Raina and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar in the ranks, Uttar Pradesh finished poorly and everyone had to face all-round criticism, but the only man stood tall was none other than the Sharma, who finished the highest run getter for the side.
The beginning of the Vijay Hazare Trophy event on Saturday was a fresh start for the side under the leadership of a new skipper Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, and Sharma let his willow do the talking in Uttar Pradesh’s nine runs against the defending champions and hosts Karnataka via the VJD Method in their rain-truncated Group C opener.
Sharma’s 74-ball 40, which included three boundaries, remained important even though the star of the match was none other than the Rinku Singh, who smashed an unbeaten half-century to fashion team’s thrilling win, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Chasing 247 in the stipulated 50 overs, Uttar Pradesh had a slow start and were 150/4 in 32 overs, but then, the Kolkata Knight Riders left-hander took charge of the proceedings, hitting seven boundaries and one six in his 61-ball knock.
Rain halted play at 45.2 overs with Uttar Pradesh stood at 215/4, which was nine runs more than the par score of 207. Both Sharma and fellow opener Abhishek Goswami (54, 67b, 3x4, 2x6) initially struggled to get going against the Karnataka new ball bowlers, Abhimanyu Mithun and Prasidh Krishna, managing only nine runs in the first five overs.
The pair put on a century stand but they lost three wickets for nine runs as the defending champions looked to seize the momentum, but Rinku, who had been struggling for runs in the T20 event, turned it around with his brisk half-century. Put in, a depleted Karnataka, who were missing the services of K L Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Manish Pandey and K Gowtham, also got off to a slow start.
The promising Devdutt Padikkal (52, 84b, 7x4) laid the foundation before No 6 Aniruddha Joshi’s blazing 48-ball 68 with the help of four fours and equal number of sixes propped up their total.
Slow ball bowler Shivam Sharma remained the most successful bowler for Uttar Pradesh, bagging 3/40, Left-arm pacer Mohsin Khan bagged 2/61, whereas Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Kartik Tyagi shared two wickets between them.
“It was a big positive change in the mentality of the players and full marks to Bhuvaneshwar
Kumar, whose presence in the side as captain is making a big difference,” teams’s chief coach Gyanendra Pandey said after the match.
“It was a much needed start for Uttar Pradesh and everyone played his part nicely. Our openers gave a good start and then Rinku played fine after our bowlers did a great job with white ball against Karnataka,” he added.
Now, Uttar Pradesh play their next match against Kerala on Monday, at the Alur Cricket Stadium II.
BRIEF SCORES
Karnataka 246/8 in 50 overs (Aniruddha Joshi 68, Devdutt Padikkal 52; Shivam Sharma 3/40) lost to Uttar Pradesh 215/4; 45.2 overs (Rinku Singh 62 not out, Abhishek Goswami 54, Karan Sharma 40) by nine runs (VJD Method).