Good Morning and Welcome to CricketCountry’s live coverage of the 2015-16 Vijay Hazare Trophy, 3rd quarter-final match between Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Thursday, as we bring you the live updates from the action. Tamil Nadu finished as table toppers with 20 points for Group A in the league matches of the trophy while Uttar Pradesh ended at the second spot with 16 points in Group D after Himachal Pradesh which too had the same points but owing to a better net run rate ended at the top of their group. Both the teams are coming after victories in their previous matches. Tamil Nadu thrashed Rajasthan by 252 runs in their previous game while Uttar Pradesh won by six wickets against Goa. Vijay Hazare 2015-16: Full coverage here
INNINGS BREAK
Live Cricket Score: Uttar Pradesh 168 | Overs 48.2 | BATSMEN: Mohd Javed 2(5): Mohd Javed picks a single on the first ball of the 49th over bringing Sauarbh Kumar on strike. Sauarbh is caught next ball by Abhinav Mukund on the bowling of Lakshmipathy Balaji. Uttar Pradesh are bowled out for 168. Lakshmipathy Balaji takes a three-wicket-haul. OUT! Saurabh Kumar c Abhinav Mukund b Laksmipathy Balaji 3(6)
Live Cricket Score: Uttar Pradesh 167/9 | Overs 48 | BATSMEN: Saurabh Kumar 3(5), Mohd Javed 1(4): Rinku Singh is caught outside his crease and glovesman Dinesh Karthik makes no mistake; Ravichandran Ashwin picks up his second wicket. Bhuvneshwar Kumar then gets run out for seven runs. Two overs are left and Uttar Pradesh are 167/9. For Tamil Nadu, besides Ashwin, Lakshmipathy Balaji has taken two wickets. OUT! Rinku Singh st Dinesh Karthik b Ravichandran Ashwin 60(97), OUT! Bhuvneshwar Kumar run-out Aswin Crist 7(11)
Live Cricket Score: Uttar Pradesh 147/7 | Overs 43.3 | BATSMEN: Rinku Singh 53(88), Bhuvneshwar Kumar 0(2): Piyush Chawla departs after a patient 29 off 62 balls. Rinku Singh has went past his half century. Batting on 53, he has hit five shots to the fence till now. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the new batsman at the crease. Uttar Pradesh have done well considering they were four down for 41 runs in 12.4 overs. They will be hoping to add another 35 runs; anything above it will be a bonus. However, it’s not easy since they have just three wickets remaining. OUT! Piyush Chawla c Dinesh Karthik b Aswin Crist 29(62)
Live Cricket Score: Uttar Pradesh 121/6 | Overs 39 | BATSMEN: Rinku Singh 41(75), Piyush Chawla 19(51): Piyush Chawla is playing a very defencive innings giving Rinku Singh the chance to do bulk of the scoring. Rinku needs nine more runs to get to his half century. 66 balls are left in Uttar Pradesh’s innings. Let us see how much can they score; since they have just four wickets in hand it would be difficult to reach 200 but can they get to 180-190 run mark.
Live Cricket Score: Uttar Pradesh 100/6 | Overs 33.4 | BATSMEN: Rinku Singh 28(65), Piyush Chawla 11(28): Uttar Pradesh have reached the 100-run mark in 33.4 overs. Rinku Singh and Piyush Chawla’s partnership has fetched Vidarbha 21 runs for now. Most probably, they will be looking forward to play a defencive game until they reach the 42nd over mark or till they do not lose any further wicket. Let’s see if Tamil Nadu succeed in bowling them out for under 150.
Live Cricket Score: Uttar Pradesh 80/6 | Overs 25.5 | BATSMEN: Rinku Singh 21(44), Piyush Chawla 1(2): Lakshmipathy Balaji traps Akshdeep Nath leg-before for 13 runs. Piyush Chawla has come to the crease after Akshdeep’s fall. Uttar Pradesh are now in the danger of getting bowled out for under 150. This is Balaji’s second wicket in just 3.5 overs he has bowled so far. OUT ! Akshdeep Nath lbw Lakshmipathy Balaji 13(38)
Live Cricket Score: Uttar Pradesh 75/5 | Overs 24.4 | BATSMEN: Rinku Singh 17(40), Akshdeep Nath 13(37): Rinku Singh and Akshdeep Natha are batting patiently, sensibly and with discipline. Their partnership is now worth 34 runs since Uttar Pradesh had lost five wickets when there were just 41 runs on board. UP would want this partnership to grow and blossom.
Live Cricket Score: Uttar Pradesh 51/5 | Overs 17 | BATSMEN: Rinku Singh 7(19), Akshdeep Nath 4(18): Loss of key wickets in the first 13 overs has brought down Uttar Pradesh’s run rate drastically in the last few overs. Akshdeep Nath has arrived at the crease after the dismissal of Umang Sharma. He is taking his time to settle down. Both Rinku Singh and Akshdeep have the responsibility to bail UP out of trouble.
Live Cricket Score: Uttar Pradesh 41/5 | Overs 12.4 | BATSMEN: Rinku Singh 2(5): Things are getting worse for Uttar Pradesh. They lose two more wickets— Sarfaraz Khan and Umang Sharma for seven and 12 runs. Sarfaraz was unfortunate to get run-out while Umang Sharma was caught by Baba Indrajith off Ravichandran Ashwin’s bowling. OUT! Umang Sharma c Baba Indrajith b Ravichandran Ashwin 12(33), OUT! Sarfaraz Khan run-out Vijay Shankar 7(9)
Live Cricket Score: Uttar Pradesh 35/3 | Overs 10 | BATSMEN: Umang Sharma 11(24), Sarfaraz Khan 5(7): Eklavya Dwivedi is cleaned up for a duck by medium-pace bowler Rajagopal Sathish. Sarfaraz Khan comes to the middle after the fall of Dwivedi. Uttar Pradesh have lost three wickets and at the same time do not have a good run rate too. Tamil Nadu are bowling very well; all of their bowlers. UP needs a big one from Sarfaraz now. OUT! Eklavya Dwivedi b Rajagopal Sathish 0(8)
Live Cricket Score: Uttar Pradesh 30/2 | Overs 7.3 | BATSMEN: Umang Sharma 11(17), Eklavya Dwivedi 0(7): Uttar Pradesh have lost two wickets early on in the match. They are two down for 30 after 7.3 overs and desperately need a partnership. Skipper Eklavya Chatrurvedi is batting along with Umang Sharma. Eklavya has faced seven deliveries but is yet to get off the mark. OUT! Shubham Chaubey c Dinesh Karthik b Lakshmipathy Balaji 6(6), OUT! Praven Kumar c&b Vijay Shankar 7(15)
Toss: Uttar Pradesh won the toss and decided to bat first
Teams:
Tamil Nadu: Ravichandran Ashwin (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Abhinav Mukund, Baba Aparajith, Aswin Crist, Baba Indrajith, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Rajagopal Sathish, Rahil Shah, Vijay Shankar, Murali Vijay
Uttar Pradesh: Eklavya Dwivedi (c) (wk), Piyush Chawla, Akshdeep Nath, Mohd Javed, Praveen Kumar, Umang Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sarfaraz Khan, Saurabh Kumar, Shubham Chaubey, Rinku Singh
The match is going to be interesting since both the teams have performed very well in the tournament so far. Even if we consider their current form both the teams are coming after convincing and huge victories in their last games. For Tamil Nadu, key players to watch out for will be Dinesh Karthik and Baba Aparajith, both of whom smashed hundreds in their previous match against Rajasthan. Special mention should also be given to their slow left-arm orthodox bowler Rahil Shah. He took a six-wicket-haul in the last game. On the other hand, Uttar Pradesh will be banking on Suresh Raina, Umang Sharma, Praveen Kumar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar to come out good in this encounter. If Suresh Raina doesn’t plays it is expected that Eklavya Chaturvedi will lead the Uttar Pradesh team.
Squads:
Tamil Nadu: Ravichandran Ashwin (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Srikkanth Anirudha, Antony Dhas, Baba Aparajith, Murugan Ashwin, Aswin Crist, Baba Indrajith, J Kousik, M Mohammed, Abhinav Mukund, Malolan Rangarajan, Rajagopal Sathish, Rahil Shah, Vijay Shankar, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Murali Vijay
Uttar Pradesh: Suresh Raina (c), Eklavya Dwivedi (wk) (vc), Prashant Gupta, Akshdeep Nath, Shubham Chaubey, Piyush Chawla, Saurabh Dubey, Israr Azim, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Praveen Kumar, Mohammad Javed, Samarth Singh, Saurabh Kumar, Umang Sharma,
Rinku Singh