J&K beat UP by eight wickets in T-20 league match

Kanpur: Jammu & Kashmir trounced Uttar Pradesh by 8 wickets in a low-scoring

league

match of Syed Mushtaq Ali T -20 cricket tournament being played at Alur cricket stadium, Bangalore on Thursday.

It was UP’s third consecutive defeat in the league phase. UP has so far failed to open its account in the point table. UP, after being invited to bat first, could post 124 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in 20 overs. Their beginning was a nightmare as they lost top two wickets for just 6 runs. They thereafter never appeared confident. However, opener Madhav Kashik showed some resistance and scored 26 runs before returning back.

Captain Priyam Garg and Shubham Chaubey tried to push UP to a respectable score and in their effort they added 53 runs in their fourth wicket union. Abdul Samad broke their union, claiming Priyam Garg in front of the wicket. Priyam contributed 35 runs in 36 balls, Shubham Chaubey was next to return after scoring 28 runs.

Aryan Juyal displayed defiant batting and returned unbeaten on 22 scored in 15 balls. Mujtaba Yusuf emerged as the best bowler claiming 3 wickets for 14 runs.

J&K in reply hit the required 126 runs in 15 overs. Abdul Samad scored the highest unbeaten 54 runs in 35 balls hammering 2 boundaries and 4 sixes. He and Shubham Khajuria took charge in the middle when the score was 37 for 2. Thereafter, in their unbeaten partnership they added 89 runs and won the match. Khajuria scored 34 runs in 25 balls with the help of 3 boundaries and a six.

After the match, UP coach Gyanendra Pandey in a telephonic conversation stated that UP batsmen are talented but somehow could not click. “The physical fitness camp was held under Covid fear and a couple of players were found positive too. This feature might have made an impact on the rest of the players,” he said.

As a coach, I motivated them. Now, it depends on them how they fare in the middle of the ground. It was very sad that they were not getting their rhythm, he added. He conceded that UP was almost out of the title race, but if the state would win its remaining two matches then the team would regain its confidence and perform better in Ranji Trophy matches.

Brief score: Uttar Pradesh -124 for 5 ( Madhav Kaushik 26, Priyam Garg 35, Shubham Chaubey 28, Aryan Juyal 22, Mujtaba Yusuf 3 for 14, Abid Mushtaq 1 for 20, Abdul Samad 1 for 14) J & K – 126 for 2 (Qamran Iqbal 17, Suryansh Raina 15, Abdul Samad 54no, Shubham Khajuria 34no, Mohsin Khan 2 for 17)