Vidarbha knock Uttar Pradesh out

NAGPUR: The look on Piyush Chawla's face said it all after he lost the crucial toss. He would have also liked to field first on a damp wicket. Even the likes of Praveen Kumar and Rudra Pratap Singh weren't happy after their captain lost the toss.
It looked they feared the worst and it turned out to be true soon. None of the Uttar Pradesh batsmen, barring young Akshdeep Nath, looked comfortable as the Chawla-led side succumbed to 112 - their second lowest List A total - in 37 overs on Thursday.
The start was delayed by half an hour due to excessive moisture on the wicket. With these conditions, the toss became vital. Once Chawla failed to call correctly, Vidarbha hardly did anything wrong.
Swapnil Bandiwar (5-31) removed the top order within no time. Shreekant Wagh (1-20) and Ravi Thakur (1-14) also chipped in with important wickets.
The spin duo of Akshay Wakhare (2-21) and Ravi Jangid (1-12) polished off the tail. Skipper Shalabh Shrivastava rotated the bowlers brilliantly and his every move worked.
Vidarbha opener Faiz Fazal (56, 93b, 6x4, 1x6) and Jitesh Sharma (43, 71b, 4x4) then had an 88-run opening stand that sealed the match and the knock-out berth for the second year in a row.
Faiz finished the match with a straight six and got back to form with an attractive fifty as Vidarbha achieved the target of 113 in 28.5 overs for the loss of Jitesh Sharma's wicket.
Uttar Pradesh continued to experiment with their opening combination and yet again sent Praveen Kumar with Mukul Dagar. Kumar hit Bandiwar over the mid off the very first ball of the match.
He again took aerial root through mid wicket two balls later. But Bandiwar had the last laugh as on the next ball Kumar offered simple catch to short mid wicket.
Bandiwar had a good last outing against UP in the last edition and he continued to torment them. The 26-year-old sent back Prashant Gupta and Umang Sharma in his next two overs to reduce UP to 33-4.
Mukul Dagar was doing his best to negotiate the tricky period till he hit one straight to short mid wicket.
After Bandiwar, it was Shreekant Wagh and Ravi Thakur's turn to strike. The left-handed duo striked soon and accounted for Parvinder Singh and wicketkeeper Eklavya Dwivedi.
Most of the UP batsmen got out while driving on a wicket where the odd ball was stopping. The conditions were difficult but by no means were they unplayable.
Chawla got good one from Wakhare but Ali Murataza and Kuldeep Yadav gifted their wickets. UP were 76-9 and were in danger of being bowled out for their lowest List A total of 105 against Madhya Pradesh, which incidentally came on the same venue two years ago. Nath batted sensibly with last man RP Singh to add 36 for the last wicket to take UP past 100-run mark.
SCOREBOARD
Uttar Pradesh: P Kumar c Satish b Bandiwar 8, M Dagar c Jangid b Bandiwar 9, P Gupta c Jangid b Bandiwar 2, U Sharma c Patel b Bandiwar 0, Parvinder c Patel b Bandiwar 9, E Dwivedi b Thakur 6, P Chawla c Badrinath b A Wakhare 16, A Nath not out 36, A Murtaza c Sharma b Wakhare 0, K Yadav c Wakhare b Jangid 1, RP Singh lbw b Bandiwar 10.
Extras: (nb 3, w 12) 15.
Total: (all out; 37 overs) 112.
Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-15, 3-18, 4-32, 5-43, 6-43, 7-74, 8-74, 9-76.
Bowling:Swapnil Bandiwar 8-0-31-5, Shreekant Wagh 7-1-20-1, Ravi Thakur 9-1-14-1, Faiz Fazal 3-0-14-0, Akshay Wakhare 5-0-21-2, Ravi Jangid 5-1-12-1.
Vidarbha: Faiz Fazal not out 56, Jitesh Sharma c Dwivedi b Murataza 43, G Satish not out 7.
Extras: (b4, wb3) 7.
Total: (1 wicket, 28.5 overs) 113.
Fall of wicket: 1-88.
Bowling: Praveen Kumar 3-0-4-0, Piyush Chawla 5-0-28-0, RP Singh 8-0-25-0, Kuldeep Yadav 7-1-20-0, Ali Murtaza 5.5-0-32-1.