India’s T20 specialist Rinku Singh failed to fire with the bat as Bihar humbled fancied Uttar Pradesh by six wickets in their Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Group B match on Monday. Opener Piyush Singh shone with a 54-ball 57 to help Bihar complete a chase of 145 with four balls to spare after Mangal Mahrour returned excellent figures of 3/12 in four overs to help his team restrict UP to 144 for six in the allotted 20 overs.
Mahrour, who bowls medium pace, was well supported by skipper Sakibul Gani (1/20) and Sakib Hussain (1/31), both picking up a wicket each in their full quota of overs but Amod Yadav was expensive as he leaked 50 runs for a solitary success. Batting at number seven, Prashant Veer top-scored for UP with an unbeaten, counter-attacking 40 off 26 balls after IPL star Rinku was dismissed for a 25-ball 19 by Mahrour at the Jadavpur University Campus ground.
Middle-order batter Sameer Rizvi was shown the door by Mahrour after a 17-ball 22, while pacer Shivam Mavi remained not out on 13 off 12 balls. Had it not been for the 50-run seventh-wicket stand between Veer and Mavi, UP would have probably ended up with less than what they eventually got. Replying with the bat, Bihar were off to a great start as the opening du of Piyush and wicketkeeper Ayush Loharuka (36 off 36 balls) added 83 runs in 11.3 overs to lay the foundation for a successful chase.
Piyush hit four boundaries and a six during his stay in the middle, before Bipin Saurabh provided the finishing touches with a breezy, unbeaten 26 off 16 balls. Prince Yadav was the most successful bowler for Uttar Pradesh, finishing with figures of 3/24 in four overs. Bihar won the toss and opted to bowl first, a decision that worked well for them.
Brief scores:
Uttar Pradesh 144/6 in 20 overs (Prashant Veer 40 not out; Mangal Mahrour 3/12) lost to Bihar 145/4 in 19.2 overs (Piyush Singh 57; Prince Yadav 3/24) by 6 wickets.
Maharashtra 161/7 in 20 overs (Rahul Tripathi 83; Vasuki Koushik 3/20) beat Goa 146 all out in 19.3 overs (Lalit Yadav 49; Jalaj Saxena 3/22, Tanay Sanghvi 3/23, Vicky Ostwal 3/27) by 15 runs.
Hyderabad 146/8 in 20 overs (Pragnay Reddy 43; Jagjit Singh 3/36, Chiragvir Dhindsa 2/18, Sandeep Sharma 2/33) lost to Chandigarh 147/6 in 19.5 overs (Arjun Azad 63, Shivam Bhambri 42; Chinntla Rakshan Readdi 2/36, Chama V Milind 2/27) by 4 wickets.
