Raina stars as UP keep final hopes alive
LUCKNOW : Skipper Suresh Raina continued to hog limelight with willow in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 Trophy Super League, smashing his second successive half-century to help former champions Uttar Pradesh register seven-wicket win against Baroda in Kolkata on Wednesday.
Highest run getter for Team India in this format of the game, Raina, who after notching up a maiden century in the opening match against Bengal on Monday, and making a half-century against Tamil Nadu on Tuesday, struck 47-ball 56, which contained five fours and two sixes to see the side home with eight balls to spare.
This was fifth win for the side in as many as six matches in the last few weeks, and it pushed Uttar Pradesh to top the ladder in Pool B of the Super League with eight points. Now, UP need to win their last game against Delhi , which is a virtual knockout game on Thursday to make it to the final, scheduled to be played on Friday, at the Eden Gardens.
Besides Raina, young batsman from Meerut, Umang Sharma too played his part nicely to anchor team’s thrilling win on Wednesday, at the JU Second Campus, Salt Lake. An 160-run second wicket partnership between Umang and Raina made things easy for the side while chasing 194 in 20 overs.
Even after losing opener Shivam Chaudhary (0) on the very first ball, fellow opener Umang and Raina kept striking the ball at consummate ease. Before being caught by Urvil Patel off A Sheth, Umang scored 47-ball 95, which contained 10 fours and five sixes.
Raina too departed in the 17th over, but it didn’t make much of a difference as first Umang and
Akshdeep Nath (8*), and then Rinku Singh (26*, 11b, 4x4) guided the team reach home in 18.4 overs.
It wasn’t an easy going for UP bowlers after they chose to bowl first on a placid turf. Baroda openers Kedar Devdhar and Urvil Patel put them to sword, stitching together 74 runs in 9.3 overs before Devdhar (37, 32b, 5x4) was dismissed by left-arm pacer Mohsin Multan Khan.
Even then Urvil, 19, kept on striking the ball nicely and put on 92-run for the second wicket with skipper Deepak Hooda (45, 25b, 3x4, 3x6). Urvil too scored a smashing 54-ball 96, containing 12 fours and four sixes at Baroda scored 192/3.
Amit Mishra (0/28) remained the most economic bowler for UP, whereas all other bowlers conceded plenty of runs with former India swing bowler Praveen Kumar giving away 45 runs in three overs. Mohsin got two wickets.
STRONG POSITION
Uttar Pradesh scored 155/3 in 44 overs against Chhattisgarh’s 98 on the opening day of their twoday Under-14 Raj Singh Dungarpur Trophy match in Meerut on Wednesday. Offie Gurmehr took 6/31, whereas Dhanjay Yadav had 3/20 as Chhattisgarh collapsed in 43.5 overs. In reply, Siddharth (55) and Shivam Kumar (35*) batted well to put UP in a strong position against the visitors.