Basti’s Suryavanshi rescues UP again in Nayudu Trophy
LUCKNOW : Young opener Aanjaneya Suryavanshi once again proved his might for the twotime champions Uttar Pradesh, hitting a sparkling half-century to help the side post a challenging total against Kerala on the opening day of their four-day Group F Under-25 Col CK Nayudu Trophy match, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Tuesday.
Needing just a draw to qualify for the knockout, Uttar Pradesh slumped to 52/3 even before the first drinks after being put to bat first by the rival skipper Vatshal. But Suryavanshi, who hails from Basti, but plays cricket in Lucknow, rose to the occasion, adding a valuable 59-run for the fourth-wicket with skipper Sameer Choudhary.
The partnership remained highest in Uttar Pradesh’s first innings as the side could make 208 in 84 overs. In reply, Kerala were 11/0 in three overs and still need 198 runs to take first innings lead.
Suryavanshi, who scored 253 in first two matches of the season with 115 being his best, looked in his superb touch, smashing nine boundaries in his 114-ball 72 before being caught by keeper Nikhil off Fanoos.
Besides him, all-rounder Prince Yadav too showed courage in the middle, hitting 133-ball 61, which contained 10 hits to the fence. If the two had not batted well, UP could have not even touched the triple figure mark.
All four changes in the winning combination of the last match remained a big flop on
Tuesday in the last league match of the season. Opener Siddharth Yadav (12, 22, 1x6) edged a regulation catch to Nikhil off Akhil Scaria in the 10th over, whereas Sahab Yuvraj Singh couldn’t even touch the first ball and was trapped leg before wicket by Scaria on duck.
Keeper-batter Pranjal Saini after facing 47 balls could score just 13 with the help of one four, whereas pacer Vineet Dubey made seven in 46 balls before being caught by Ananthakrishnan off Scaria. Other UP batters like Sameer Rizvi (4) and allrounder Kritagya Singh (3) too failed to perform. Team’s other batting mainstay and skipper
Sameer Choudhary (15, 65b, 2x4) too was beaten by Fanoos on an out swing and edged a regulation catch to keeper Nikhil.
All three Kerala pacers bowled superbly as Fanoos (3/58) and Akhil Scaria (3/64) and Vishweshwar Suresh (2/47) got most of the wickets, whereas Vishnu Kumar (1/28) too excelled with spin bowling.
UP’s chief coach and former Ranji Trophy speedster Obaid Kamal was a bit disappointed with batters performances. “It’s a sporting wicket where you need to apply yourself, but most of our batters tried to play oneday cricket in innings cricket and that’s why we couldn’t post a big total,” said Kamal.
“Undoubtedly, both Suryavanshi and Yadav batted well and rescued the side from early collapse. In three overs spell in Kerala’s first innings by our pacers Kunal Yadav and Karan Chaudhary felt much for the bowlers in the pitch and we are hopeful to defend the team’s total when the game starts on Wednesday.
He, however, said that four changes in the Playing XI for this match couldn’t produce expected results, but hoped that like in the earlier matches when UP came from behind to win the match, the side will do the same miracle in this match also.