Uttranchal, Haryana enter quarter-finals of Twenty-20 Nationals

Chandigarh, Nov 13 (UNI) Haryana and Uttranchal advanced to the quarter-finals, while Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh bowed out of the inaugural National Twenty-20 Cricket Championship for Under-19 here today.

Uttranchal entered the quarter finals beating Madhya Pradesh by 44 runs here today.

Batting first, Uttranchal scored 187 for 6 in the allotted 20 overs.

Rajat Chawla (62, 10x4s), Amit Kumar (34, 2x4s) and Gulshan Thakral (42, 6x4s, 2x4s) were theirmain scorers. Amit and Chawla contributed 77 runs for the fourth wicket. Manoj and Piyush claimed two wickets each for 33 and 38 runs respectively.

In reply, Madhya Pradesh scored 143 for 2 in 20 overs. The highlight of their innings was a 111-run partnership for the second wicket between Siddharth Jaswal (71, 4x4s) and Aproov Choubey (23).

Openers Siddharth and Piyush Naware (28) had given them a flying start as their partnership yielded 64 runs.

It was Uttranchal's second successive victory and topped Pool D.

Haryana earned full points at the expense of Saurashtra whom they beat by 48 runs in Pool G. Batting first, Haryana were all out for 121 in 18.5 overs. Tinku's brilliant half century having seven fours in it bolstered Haryana innings.

Nadeem Shah (4 for 17) and Dhruv Raj (3 for 26) were the main wicket-takers for Saurashtra.

Saurashtra were bowled out for 73 runs in 17.1 overs. Hitesh made 30 which included four fours and one six. Vansaj Rana (3 for 23) and Deepak Debas (2 for 2) wrecked Saurashtra innings. Haryana topped their three-team pool with six points from two victories.

Andhra Pradesh (pool A) and Gujarat (pool F) bowed out of the competition with two defeats each.

Indian Twenty-20 Cricket Federation (ITCF) scored a five-wicket win over Andhra Pradesh who scored 104 in 18.2 overs. A Venkatesh made 37 and Anupam 17. Jitender (3 for 18) and Daljeet Singh (3 for 26) restricted AP to 104. ITCF replied with 108 for 5 in 17.2 overs. Tarun Dogra (29) and Karan Verma (40, 7x4s) were associated in a valuable 66-run partnership for the first wicket.

In yet another match, Jharkhand (210 for 6) beat Gujarat (116 for 5) by 94 runs. It was Jharkhand's first win in Pool F. With Gujarat out of the race, the match between Chandigarh and Jharkhand will decide the qualifiers from this pool. Both have won their opening matches.

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