After Ranji Trophy, UP fail in T20 Trophy too

LUCKNOW: Former champions Uttar Pradesh remained matchless to a superior side Delhi for the second time in the Syed Mushtaq Ali twenty20 Trophy this season on Wednesday.

- Sharad Deep

Ayush Badoni-led Delhi first beat Uttar Pradesh in the opening match of the event by 47 runs at Wankhade Stadium in Mumbai and then almost did the same in the pre-quarterfinal, beating Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Co by 19 runs.

In fact, neither the Uttar Pradesh bowlers nor the batters did justice to their reputation, and trusting 'failures' like Delhi-man Nitish Rana proved costly for the side once again as the all-rounder was even involved in a verbal duel with Ayush Badoni, bringing disrepute to Uttar Pradesh team. He made just two before being caught by Harsh Tyagi of Badoni.

Barring Priyam Garg, Sameer Rizvi and skipper Bhuvneshwar Kumar, no other Uttar Pradesh batter could touch the double-figure mark as Delhi bowlers kept troubling other batters too, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, where Delhi after being sent to bat first, posted 193/3 before skittling out Uttar Pradesh for 174 on the very last ball of the 20th over.