Despite Raina’s flop show, UP win a thriller
LUCKNOW : Suresh Raina’s poor show with willow in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Twnty20 Trophy continued even on Wednesday, but Uttar Pradesh bowlers helped the side inflict a thrilling one-run win over Services at New Delhi.
Raina, who has so far scored 75 runs, including 54 against Hyderabad in the second match, could score just three runs on Wednesday before being caught by Rajat Paliwal off Diwesh Gurdev Pathania, at the Airforce Complex Ground in Palam. His scores in other matches so far read 5, 1 and 12.
Uttar Pradesh could score 138/5 in 20 overs while batting first after winning the toss. In reply, Services were restricted to 137/6. Things never looked easy for one of the strongest batting sides in the domestic circuit as Services bowlers too were accurate with their pace against former champions Uttar Pradesh.
Opener Samarth Singh, who has already showed his might, once again came up with some responsible batting, hitting 63-ball 70, which included six fours and two sixes. Samarth’s knock, which helped UP cross the 100-run mark, saw him adding 91-run for the fifth wicket with Rinku Singh, who remained unbeaten on 56, which came off 37 balls with the help of six fours and a six.
Mohit Kumar had opener Upendra Yadav (6) caught by Nakul Verma in the fourth over, and thereafter Uttar Pradesh kept losing wickets on regular intervals before being reduced to 4/36 in the seventh over. Besides Raina, Priyam Garg (1) and skipper Akshdeep Nath (0) too found the going tough.
Compensating batsmen failures, Uttar Pradesh bowlers chose to put Services batsmen under a tight check, bowling on right spots. After losing opener Ravi Chauhan (0), who was run out by Shiva Singh, Services found the UP fielders too posing a good challenge to them in allaround the ground.
An unbeaten 30-run seventhwicket partnership Vikas Hatwala (39*, 33, 3x4, 1x6) and Diwesh Gurdev Pathania (8*) had almost snatched the win away from UP. Rajat Paliwal (30, 24b, 3x4), Rahul Singh Gehlot (27, 21b, 5x4) and Nakul Verma (20, 24b, 2x4) were the other main run getters.
With this win, Uttar Pradesh now lead eight-team Group E with 16 points, followed by Maharashtra and Uttarakhand (both 16 points each). On Thursday, UP take on Uttarakhand in their penultimate league match, before playing the last game against Baroda on Saturday.
FALAK SHINES
Before coming to this match, Falak Naz looked an ordinary bowler with three wickets in five matches, but on Thursday she underlined her potential with her maiden five-wicket haul to help Uttar Pradesh beat Maharashtra by six wickets in Women’s Under-19 One-Day League at Jorhat.
This win, however, kept Uttar Pradesh’s hopes alive for a berth in the knockout as they finished their league assignments at fifth position (24 points) with six wins in as many as eight matches. Now, UP’s fate hang on the outcome of the matches of Punjab (24 points) and Haryana (20 points).
Falak was right on target, bagging 5/22 in her 5.3 overs with one maiden as Maharashtra, which chose to bat first after winning the toss, collapsed for paltry 73 in 22.3 overs. AA Gaikwad (31*, 53b, 4x4) and Priyanka Subhas Ghdke (10) could reach the double figure mark.
FIRST WIN
After four successful losses, finally Uttar Pradesh on Thursday notched up their first win in the Senior Women’s Twenty20 League, crushing lowly Bihar by 112 runs, at the VCA Kalamna in Nagpur in Group C.