The USN Indians secured a fourth consecutive win in the round-robin stage of the Patanjali Uttarakhand Premier League, beating the Dehradun Warriors by 5 runs at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium on Friday, September 20. The result sees them proceed to the final to be played on Sunday, while the Warriors’ fate is now out of their hands.
Having been inserted to bat first, the USN Indians continued their rich vein of form and piled up a massive 213 on the board. In response, Sanskar Rawat (80 off 41) proved just why he remains one of the finds of the competition with a blistering onslaught that kept his team on course in what was a critical encounter for the Warriors.
Vaibhav Bhatt bagged a duck off the second ball he faced but Sanskar unleashed his full range of shots yet again with skipper Aditya Tare (21 off 13) promoting himself up the order to number 3 and getting off to a quick start. Tare departed soon though before Rakshit Rohi (0 off 2) also followed suit but none of it stopped Sanskar from continuing with his rampage as he whipped up his second half-century of the season.
A 58-run fourth wicket partnership with Sagar Rawat (24 off 16) kept the Warriors well on course as the score read 117/3 at the halfway mark. Once again though, it was Prashant Chauhan who broke the game open with the wicket of Sagar before returning to prize out Sanskar, having him hole out to long on for a majestic 80.
Dikshanshu Negi (37 off 21) and Aanjaneya Suryavanshi (20* off 14) then kicked on and operated in sixth gear to keep the contest on an even footing. But the USN Indians had a hero in Devendra Bora (3/32 off four overs) as he nabbed Suryavanshi in the 17th over while conceding just four runs in that over before sending down a superb 19th over that saw him give away just ten runs while accounting for Dikshanshu’s wicket. That set things up for Rahul Negi to execute a brilliant final over with the Warriors requiring 17 runs, before it was too late as twelve runs were needed off the last ball which traveled for a six.
Earlier in the afternoon, Yuvraj Chaudhary (78 off 47) continued his rich vein of form as he turbocharged the USN Indians towards another massive total. Chaudhary and fellow opening partner Aarav Mahajan (45 off 27) blazed away at the rate of knots in the powerplay, posting 74 at the end of that phase with a string of fours and sixes headlining it. The openers breezed their way to yet another 100-plus partnership with their stand worth 110 as it was brought to a close towards the end of the 10th over by Satyam Baaliyan (3/48 off four overs) who trapped Mahajan LBW.
Abhinav Sharma (21 off 18) and Aryan Sharma (17 off 12) couldn’t quite maintain the same scoring rate even as Chaudhary continued to plunder the big shots for fun. He was the second wicket to fall though and thereafter, it was skipper Akhil Rawat (36 off 12) who produced a phenomenal cameo studded with four sixes to power his team past the 200-mark. The final over was marked by a team hat-trick that included the run out of Anay Chhetri (0 off 1) as Baaliyan picked up two wickets on either side of that, including that of Akhil. A daunting score of 213 is what the USN Indians ended with and it was enough to secure a direct spot in the final.
As for the Warriors, they will now hope for a favor from the Pithoragarh Hurricanes, who by virtue of this result have qualified for the Eliminator. Should the Hurricanes beat the Nainital SG Pipers in Match 10 on Friday, the Warriors will play the Eliminator. Else, the SG Pipers will qualify for the same.
Scores: USN Indians 213/7 in 20 overs (Yuvraj Chaudhary 78 off 47, Aarav Mahajan 45 off 29, Satyam Baaliyan 3/48 off four overs) beat Dehradun Warriors 208/8 in 20 overs (Sanskar Rawat 80 off 41, Dikshanshu Negi 37 off 21, Devendra Bora 3/32 off four overs) by 5 runs.
