Chasing 185 against Gujarat at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh were reduced to 45/3. At the crease was Karan Sharma, leading the side at only 23. He was joined by former captain Akshdeep Nath. The pair added 89 before wicketkeeper Upendra Yadav decided the match in a flurry of boundaries. Uttar Pradesh were firm favourites by the time Nath fell, for 71. They eventually won by five wickets in the 43rd over, and will now face Mumbai in the final at the same venue, on the 14th.
The Gujarat batsmen struggled earlier in the day, losing wickets at regular intervals. At one point they were 92/5, but Het Patel (60) and Piyush Chawla (32) added 66 runs to provide some respectability to the total. However, they fell in the space of four balls, and Gujarat – unbeaten in the tournament until then – never recovered from that.
The Uttar Pradesh new-ball bowlers, Yash Dayal (3-34) and Aaqib Khan (2-22), returned in the death overs to skittle out Gujarat for 184. The three run outs did not help, for they could not even bat out 50 overs. Shivam Sharma (1-37) got a wicket to finish as the leading wicket-taker of the tournament at this point.
In response, Chintan Gaja got both Uttar Pradesh openers by 27, while Tejas Patel took out the dangerous Priyam Garg. Unfortunately, Piyush Chawla, Gujarat’s most senior bowler, failed to separate Karan and Nath in time. By the time he had Nath caught behind, Gujarat needed a mere 12. Arzan Nagwaswalla, who topped the wickets chart alongside Shivam, went wicketless.
Brief scores:
Gujarat 184 in 48.1 overs (Het Patel 60; Yash Dayal 3-34) lost to Uttar Pradesh 188/5 in 42.4 overs (Akshdeep Nath 71; Chintan Gaja 2-30) by 5 wickets with 44 balls to spare. Player of the Match: Akshdeep Nath.