Brijendra, Swastik shine for UP in Cooch Behar Trophy
LUCKNOW: Batters Brijendra Tripathi and Swastik slammed responsible half centuries to help former champions Uttar Pradesh post a challenging 218 in the first innings against Jharkhand on the opening day of their four-day tie in the Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy at Pune on Monday.
The two stitched together 85-run for the sixth-wicket to help the side recover from 5/93 and cross 200-run mark after they chose to bat first after winning the toss. Tripathi struck 143-ball 63 with the help of eight hits to the fence, whereas Swastik made 59 in 110 balls with the help of eight fours and two sixes.
Jharkhand were 18/0 in two overs in reply with openers Ankit (12) and Shikhar Mohan (6) batting at the crease at the draw of stumps. UP’s first two matches were washed out.
Nothing went right for Uttar Pradesh on a fast and bouncy wicket of Deccan Gymkhana Cricket Ground as top batters, including skipper Vipraj Nigam found the going tough against pacers Sahil Raj (4/43) and Jatin (5/52) and lost two quick wickets for just 20 on the board.
Fellow opener Shivam Gautam (36, 78b, 6x4) and Aryan Baliyan (21, 52b, 5x4) tried to rescue the side by adding 51-run for the third-wicket, but it didn’t make much of a difference and as UP were reduced to 4/72 in 26.3 overs. Prashant Yadav (0), Ansh Tewari (0), Nirdesh Baisoya (2), Naman Tewari (6) and Vijay Kumar (4) couldn’t do much with willow.
STATE T-T
About 300 paddlers would be seen in action in the four-day 68th UP State Table Tennis Championship, beginning Tuesday, at the Eklavya Stadium in Agra. Kanpur’s Abhishek Yadav and Suhana Narjinary of Moradabad have been given top billing in men’s and women’s singles, respectively.
THE RUN
A marathon “The Run” will be flagged off from Ekana Stadium here on February 27. Race director Vimal Gupta and organiser Surabhi Tripathi while announcing the event on Monday, said that a trial run was held in which the runners participated with great enthusiasm. “The Run is a wonderful event for both beginners and professionals. It consists of different categories like full marathon, half marathon and 10 km, 5 km and 3 km runs,” said Gupta. The brand ambassador of the event is Satyam Shankar Sahai, an eighttime ‘Ironman’.
CONVINCING WINS
Shri Jai Narayan Mishra PG College (SJNMPGC) and Shia PG College (SPGC) notched up easy wins to make it to the semifinals of the Sundari Devi Inter PG Collegiate Cricket Tournament here on Monday. SJNPGC defeated Islamia PG College (OPGC) by six wickets, whereas SPGC beat National PG College (NPGC) by 58 runs.