UP bounce back to rout Rajasthan

NAGPUR: For the last two matches, Imtiaz Ahmad has been serving drinks to his teammates from the sidelines. Ahmad, one of the success stories for UP in this Ranji Trophy season, made an immediate impact when his team needed it the most and returned with amazing figures of 4-1-5-4 as Rajasthan collapsed from 43-0 to 103 within no time.
Wicket-keeper Eklavya Dwivedi (65*, 48b, 9x4, 1x6), promoted up the order, lived up to the expectations and blasted Rajasthan attack in the company of fellow opener Prashant Gupta (33, 32b, 3x4) as UP completed the target in just 14.3 overs to record a comprehensive nine-wicket victory in the Central Zone Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 Trophy here on Thursday.
Put in to bat, Rajasthan openers Ankit Lamba (51, 48b, 3x4, 4x6) and Pranay Sharma (21, 19b, 4x4) started off very well. They negated the early advantage with some sensible and positive batting. However, things were different once Ahmad was introduced into the attack. He sent back Sharma and skipper Ashok Menaria with two brilliant deliveries and UP didn't look back after that.
There was no one to support Lamba at the other end as the VCA Civil Lines wicket suddenly turned into a graveyard for Rajasthan batsmen, who played some average shots. Robin Bisht and Dishant Yagnik were bowled around their legs trying to paddle the ball.
UP spinners Piyush Chawla (4-0-20-0) and Ali Murtaza (4-0-16-2) made life difficult for Rajasthan batsmen who failed to rotate the strike. Lamba, on the other hand, played some bold shots off Chawla hitting the bowlers for two brilliant sixes at extra cover. He brought his fifty with fantastic pull shot off RP Singh (4-0-30-2) over mid wicket but succumbed to the same bowler while trying to up the tempo.
Ahmad, in his second spell, continued to bowl tight line and removed dangerous Puneet Yadav and Pankaj Singh to give Rajasthan further jolts. The scorecard looked like a telephone number if you remove openers. Barring openers, none of the Rajasthan batsmen reached double figures. They scored only 43 in the last ten overs, losing eight wickets.
UP openers knew they have to complete the target as soon possible. Gupta made their intentions clear on the first ball dispatching Pankaj through cover for a delightful boundary. Dwivedi delicately guided rising deliveries from Aniket Choudhary through fine leg and then hit Pankaj over deep mid wicket for a huge six.
Pankaj, who joined the team on Wednesday night, soon left the field due to injury. His remaining two deliveries bowled by Menaria were dispatched to successive boundaries by Dwivedi. By the end of the Batting Powerplay, the match was only going one way. When Gupta was dismissed by Madhur Khatri, the damage had already been done. Dwivedi, along with Mohd Kaif, quickly knocked off the target.
UP will now take on Vidarbha in their last league match on Friday morning. The win will ensure knock-out berth for both UP and Vidarbha. The loser will have to depend on the result of MP-Rajasthan match. If MP win the match, they will go through the knock-outs. If they lose, the loser of UP-Vidarbha will qualify depending on the margin of victory.
BRIEF SCORES
Rajasthan 103 in 20 overs (Ankit Lamba 51, Pranay Sharma 20; Imitiaz Ahmad 4-5, Ali Murtaza 2-16, RP Singh 2-30) lost to Uttar Pradesh 107 in 14.3 overs (Eklavya Dwivedi 65*, Prashant Gupta 33, Mohd Kaif 7*; Madhur Khatri 1-15) by nine wickets.