Vinay Galetia led an outstanding exhibition of seam bowling and Prashant Chopra backed it up with a affected person but brisk 99 as Himachal Pradesh shocked Uttar Pradesh within the quarterfinals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy on the Sawai Mansingh Stadium right here.
The five-wicket win was HP’s first over UP in Record A cricket, and for the primary time since 2015-16, the facet made it to the semifinals.
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Galetia made a decisive influence within the contest within the first hour itself, dismissing three top-order batters to go away Uttar Pradesh struggling at 39 for 4 within the fifteenth over, and from right here on, the group was eternally taking part in catch-up. What triggered the top-order collapse was the batters’ incapacity to cope with glorious seam bowling – deliveries that simply moved in barely after pitching. For as soon as, Rishi Dhawan took the backseat as Galetia (3 for 19) and Sidharth Sharma (2 for 27) not solely took wickets but in addition diminished the runs to a trickle.
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The dependable fingers Akshdeep Nath and Rinku Singh (76, 102b, 6×4) needed to rally as soon as once more, however this time made solely a restricted influence.
HP opener Prashant Chopra, then, knuckled down for a well-paced inning of 99 (141b, 10×4, 2×6) to assist shepherd the group house. He negotiated the primary 10 overs with care and warning alongside Shubham Arora, earlier than combining with Nikhil Gangta, who scored a free-flowing 58 (59b, 5×4, 3×6), for a protracted partnership. A short stumble adopted – 4 wickets fell for 18 runs – however it couldn’t reverse the tide.
Respiration hearth
Selecting to bowl, HP was on prime fairly early. First, Abhishek Goswami tried a drive off a full supply from Sidharth Sharma and was dismissed lbw. Galetia, who bowled full or on a very good size at a very good tempo, troubled the batters. Aryan Juyal was dismissed bowled after he got here down the observe for an aggressive stroke and missed the ball because it got here in after pitching, and in the identical over, No. 3 Karan Sharma was additionally undone by the ball seaming into him.
Dhawan, the captain, had taken himself off after bowling solely two overs early on and had handed the ball to Galetia. Now recognising the sharpness of his spell, he let Galetia bowl his full quota of 10 overs. After a interval of many performs and misses, Galetia had yet another, within the fifteenth over: Sameer Rizvi was dismissed lbw after a nervy innings of 5.
Akshdeep and Rinku blocked and nudged their strategy to try to preserve wickets in hand for the enterprise finish. However on a pitch that appeared inhospitable for batters needing the ball to come back on to the bat to attain freely, they couldn’t fairly take their group to a secure complete.
They rode their luck, too, of their partnership of 64. Within the twenty second over, Akshdeep was dropped by Shubham Arora off Pankaj Jaswal, the fourth seamer. The ball travelled to the suitable of the wicketkeeper, who dived however couldn’t seize it. Within the subsequent over, Rinku edged a supply from Dhawan to the vacant gully area, and within the twenty fifth over, Akshdeep practically holed out to the fielder at deep sq. leg.
It was within the thirty second over, although, when the alliance ended. Akshdeep, moments after being concerned in a mix-up that almost culminated in Rinku’s dismissal, drove a supply from Sidharth straight to the fielder at mid-off, maybe foxed by the slower supply.
Rinku and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the brand new batter, ran exhausting between the wickets and performed some strokes. However there weren’t any costly overs because the batters struggled to time the ball.
HP, however, had runs flowing easily for fairly some time throughout the chase. Between the thirty first and the thirty seventh overs, Chopra and Gangta indulged themselves by going for his or her strokes, together with one for a six to long-on.
Chopra introduced up the 100-run partnership (off 110 deliveries) with a flick to high-quality leg for 4 off Ankit Rajpoot, and it appeared a win was across the nook.
However Rajpoot and Shivam Mavi precipitated a collapse as batters one after the opposite discovered methods of getting out. Gangta was out making an attempt to play the late minimize off Rajpoot; Dhawan edged Rajpoot behind to fall for a duck; Chopra chipped a supply from Mavi straight to mid-off and slumped to his knees; and Sumeet Verma chipped one to mid-on, with 13 left to win.
Such a collapse didn’t harm, because of Chopra’s elegant innings. It ensured his group didn’t buckle in opposition to the brand new ball and potent seamers. Yash Dayal (0 for 25) and Shivam Mavi (3 for 34) did bowl with precision, however couldn’t dislodge him early on.
Transient scores
Uttar Pradesh 207 for 9 in 50 overs (Rinku 76, Bhuvneshwar 46, Galetia 3 for 19) misplaced to Himachal Pradesh 208 for five in 45.3 overs (Chopra 99, Gangta 58, Mavi 3 for 34)