Hyderabad: The Tilak Verma-led Hyderabad team eked out a five-wicket victory over Uttar Pradesh to storm into the semifinals of the Under-19 Vinoo Mankad Trophy one-day tournament at Narendra Modi Ground B in Ahmedabad on Thursday. In a keenly contested quarterfinal match, Hyderabad chased a target of 236 runs in 48.5 overs. Hyderabad meet Maharashtra in the semifinals on October 16.
Hyderabad were given a fine start as the left-handed Verma (41 off 60 balls, 6×4) and K Krithik Reddy (36) put on 76 runs before the former departed. But Krithik Reddy and Aman Rao, who joined the team in the knock-out stage, stitched 46 runs. Although Aman was out for 38, Vignesh Reddy (49 off 52 balls, 4×4, 1×6) and Shashank Lokesh steadied with a 45-run stand for the fourth wicket. Lokesh fell for 21 and Reddy, who did the hard work, departed with seven runs away from victory. He was run out. However Rishith Reddy saw the team through in the company of Avanish.
Earlier, UP posted 235 for 5 in 50 overs. Deepanshu Chaudhary (78) top scored for UP. For Hyderabad, medium pacer Bhuvangagiri Punniah was the best bowler as he returned with two wickets for 22 runs.
Brief scores: UP 235/5 in 50 overs (Vipraj Nigam 41, Deepanshu Chaudhary 78, Siddharth Yadav 35; Punnaiah 2/22) lost to Hyderabad 236/5 in 48.5 overs (K Krithik Reddy 36, Tilak Varma 41, Aman Rao 38, Vignesh Reddy 49)
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