Juyal hits ton, UP finish poor sixth

If Rajinder Singh Hans was the most successful coach in the history of Uttar Pradesh cricket as he guided the side to their maiden Ranji Trophy win in 2005-06, former India cricketer Gyanendra Pandey was the second best as it was during his stint when UP made it to the Ranji Trophy final twice in 2007-08 and 2008-09.

- Sharad Deep

LUCKNOW:

Since then, Uttar Pradesh's experiments with coaches from other states failed to make any serious impact on the team's performance. This time wasn't different too as Karnataka's Sunil Joshi remained a 'flop' coach for the side even after spending three seasons with the boys, including many from outside like former Delhi's skipper Nitish Rana.

Under his maiden coaching stint, Uttar Pradesh finished fourth in 2019-20 with two wins in eight matches, sixth in 2023-24 season with one win and finally seventh in 2024-25 season with just one victory.

For sure, this was his final stint with Aryan Juyal-led side, which conceded 59-run first innings lead against hosts Madhya Pradesh at Indore on Sunday, to finish a poor sixth in the eight-team Group C. Haryana with 29 points and Kerala with 28 points made it to the knockout from the group.