Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla returned with a four-wicket haul to guide Uttar Pradesh to a comfortable seven-wicket win over Maharashtra in a weather-hit Group D Twenty20 match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy here today.
The spin-pace duo of Chawla (4/28) and Ankit Rajpoot (3/15) shared seven wickets between them as Uttar Pradesh restricted Maharashtra to 109 for 7 after the match was reduced to 12-overs-a-side due to bad weather at the DRIEMS Ground in Tangi.
Uttar Pradesh then returned to overhaul the target, scoring 113 for three in 11.2 overs, riding on some significant contributions by opener Prashant Gupta (35), Umang Sharma (32 not out) and Akshdeep Nath (34 not out).
Earlier put into bat, Maharashtra's innings centered around Kedar Jadhav, who blasted an unbeaten 52 off 29 balls, studded with five boundaries and three sixes.
However, other batsmen found the going tough as Rajpoot dismissed the openers -- Harshad Khadiwale (5) and Rohit Motwani (14) to reduce them to 21 for 2 in 3.3 overs.
Chawla then picked up Ankit Bawne (7) in the sixth over and the next two batsmen -- Shrikant Mundhe (3) and Rahul Tripathi (0) in consecutive balls of the eighth over as Maharashtra slipped to 62 for five.
Chasing 110 to win, UP were reduced to 22 for 2 in 3.1 overs but Gupta and Sharma added 51 runs to steady the innings before the opener becoming a victim of Shamshuzama Kazi (1/18) in the eighth over.
Sharma and Nath then took their team home with an unbeaten 40 runs in 21 balls.
Brief Score:
Maharashtra: 109 for 7 in 12 overs (K Jadhav 52; P Chawla 4/28)
Uttar Pradesh: 113 for 3 in 11.2 overs (P Gupta 35; SM Kazi 1/18).
