Nishunk claims 9-wicket haul

Nishunk Birla claimed a nine-wicket haul to make up for the poor batting performance, as Chandigarh trailed by 12 runs against Uttar Pradesh in the Col CK Nayudu Trophy match in Kanpur.

In the their first innings, the Chandigarh batters were bundled out at 170. The Uttar Pradesh batters replied with 260 — amid a fine performance by Birla. In their second innings, the local batters again stumbled and were 78/4 at the draw of stumps.

Chandigarh started their first innings on a shaky note. Dushyant (19) was first to be trapped by Vijay Kumar, as the side lost their opener at 24. Thereafter, Akshu Bajwa swung into action and accounted Raghav Verma (15), Nikhil (25), Aarsuh Bhandari (3), Adhiraj (0), Jaskirat Singh Mehra (0) and Birla (0), as the city batters faced a tough time. Aarav Bansal scored 40 off 56 balls, with six boundaries and one six, to remain the top scorer for the side. Bajwa claimed 6/56, while Kumar accounted 3/51. Shubham Mishra claimed one wicket.

In reply, the Uttar Pradesh lads had their successful run as Kavya Teotia (99 off 206 balls, with nine boundaries) and Bajwa (91 off 116 balls, with seven boundaries and six boundaries) played important innings. However, once Birla swung into action, he went to claim both the batsmen besides claiming Siddharth Chaudhary (21), Rituraj Sharma (9), Shubham Mishra (10), Al Zafir Mohsin (15), Arjun Kumar Singh (2), Kaartikaya Singh (1) and Vijay Kumar (1). Biral restricted the UP batters to 260.

In their second innings, Dushyant did better by posting 45, but Bajwa once was once again on the job. Kumar took Bansal (5), while Bajwa accounted Verma (13) as the side ended the day with 78/4.