Uttar Pradesh cruise to victory

Uttar Pradesh beat Maharashtra by five wickets on the fourth and the final day of the Ranji Trophy Elite group B match at Chhatrapati Shivaji Stadium in Kolhapur on Saturday.

Resuming at overnight 59 for one, UP chased the 231-run target scoring 234 in 66.1 overs with five wickets to spare.

UP skipper Jyoti Yadav, who was on 36 when the stumps were drawn last evening, added 14 runs when he was out leg before.

But Rizwan Shamshad hit an impressive 78 off in 106 balls with the help of 11 boundaries and remained at crease for 145 minutes. Shivakant Shukla also remained at crease for 154 minutes and made 40 runs in 104 balls with six boundaries.

Shamshad and Shukla scored 114 runs, the highest for the fourth wicket partnership.

Yesterday, hosts Maharashtra could not (not) capitalise on the advantage of first innings lead of 112 runs and returned to pavalion in just 119 runs in their second innings yesterday soon after which Uttar Pradesh started it's second inning.

The best bowler and best batsman awards -- each Rs 11,000 -- set up by Ichalkaranji-based FIE (Fuel Instruments Engineering) Foundation was bagged by Uttar Pradesh bowler R P Singh and Maharashtra batsman Dhiraj Jadhav. Winners Uttar Pradesh received cash award of Rs 25,000, also set up by FIE Foundation.

Scorecard

Maharashtra 1st innings: 394

Uttar Pradesh 1st Innings: 282

Maharashtra 2nd innings: 119

Uttar Pradesh 2nd Innings: (overnight 59 for 1)
R Prakash lbw K Adhav 15
J Yadav lbw I Siddiqui 50
S Raina c S Satbhai b R Khirid 17
R Shamshad lbw R Khirid 78
S Shukla lbw A Sanklecha 40
A Zaidi not out 13
Gyanendra Pandey not out 4

Extras: (b 1, lb 3, nb 10, w 3) 17

Total: (For 5 wickets in 66.1 overs) 234

Fall of wickets: 1-59, 2-88, 3-92, 4-206, 5-226 

Bowling: I Siddiqui 11-2-58-1, R Khirid 20-2-58-2, A Sanklecha 14.1-3-47-1, K Khadkikar 10-3-26-0, K Adhav 8-3-35-1, H Kanitkar 3-0-6-0.