Dehradun, Dec 30 (PTI) Seamer Abhay Negi’s four-wicket haul and Kunal Chandela’s unbeaten half-century helped Uttarakhand beat Himachal Pradesh by five wickets in a Ranji Trophy Group A match here on Friday.

While bad light on Thursday — day three — gave a ray of hope to Himachal to salvage a draw, the final day brought good tidings for Uttarakhand as their bowlers, led by Negi, first restricted the opponents to 391, and then the batters, aided by Chandela’s unbeaten 59, crossed the winning target of 105 in 28.5 overs.

Uttarakhand, who had got into prime position to win the match on the opening day itself when they dismissed Himachal for just 49 runs and then took a massive lead by scoring 336 runs in their first innings, could have finished the match inside three days.

But bad light, which allowed just 14 overs to be bowled on Thursday, pushed the contest into the fourth day.

A lot rested on Himachal batters Akash Vasisht (111) and captain Rishi Dhawan (71) to save the match. They batted fluently while at the crease, first wiping out the huge deficit and then giving their team a slender lead as well.

But once they departed one after the other within a space of three overs, things became difficult for the visitors.

Himachal innings wound up for 391, giving Uttarakhand a 105-run target to win the match.

Despite initial hiccups, Uttarahkand lost both their openers for two runs apiece and were 40 for four at one stage but then Chandela stuck to the task, scoring an 81-ball 59. He had wicketkeeper-batter Aditya Tare for company and the duo ensured the hosts’ safe landing.

When Tare departed, Uttarakhand were just 12 runs short from the winning target which was achieved soon.

Earlier, Negi played a key role, getting rid of Himachal middle and lower-order and restricting them to 391. He first broke the overnight partnership between Dhawan and Vasisht, dismissing the former for 71 and then quickly got rid of Praveen Thakur (10), Mayank Dagar (10) and Pankaj Jaiswal (2).

Brief scores: At Dehradun: Himachal 49 and 391 in 111 overs (Rishi Dhawan 77, Akash Vasisht 111; Abhay Negi 4/54) lost to Uttarakhand 336 and 106/5 in 28.5 overs (Kunal Chandela 59 n.o.; Mayank Dagar 3/35) by 5 wickets. Uttarakhand 5 points, Himachal 0.

At Cuttack: Haryana 338 and 384/4 decl in 77 overs (Ankit Kumar 172 not out, Himanshu Rana 98) drew with Odisha 414 and 110/1 in 31 overs (Anurag Sarangi 53 not out). Odisha 3 points, Haryana 1 point.

At Vadodara: Uttar Pradesh 258 and 177 (Dhruv Jurel 50; Ninad Rathva 5/56) lost to Baroda 249 and 189/6 in 47.2 overs (Shashwat Rawat 68, Mitesh Patel 40, Ninad Rathva 40 not out) by 4 wickets. Baroda 6 points, Uttar Pradesh 0.

Source: PTI News