Uttarakhand lift Under-19 One Day Trophy

Pooja Raj led from the front with a three-wicket haul and Neelam scored a fifty to help Uttarakhand lift the Under-19 One Day Trophy for the 2021-22 season. Uttarakhand bundled Madhya Pradesh out to a paltry score with an all-round bowling performance before chasing down the target with eight wickets to spare at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Monday (October 18).



Having opted to field, even though Uttarakhand couldn’t strike early, they didn’t let the opposition get a rapid start as Madhya Pradesh openers took their time. Kalyani Jadhav and Naini Rajput played out 23 overs for a 46-run stand before Sakshi broke their partnership.



From there, Madhya Pradesh lost wickets in regular intervals with top-scorer Jadhav becoming Sakshi’s second victim. Raj started with the wicket of her opposite number when she dismissed Anushka Sharma for a duck. She also accounted for Ananya Dubey and Unnati Bagora during her impressive spell that read 9-4-15-3.



Jadhav’s 24 and Soumya Tiwari’s 18 along with the 29 extras helped Madhya Pradesh reach the three-figure mark in the 48^th over, but they were soon bowled out for 102 in the next over.



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For Uttarakhand, Raj was the most successful bowler with Sakshi, Raghvi and Nisha Mishra picking up two wickets each.



In the chase, Uttarakhand suffered early jitters losing Shagun and Raghvi with only 19 runs on the board. Shagun was trapped in front by Bargora, while Raghvi couldn’t open her account as she became a victim to Tiwari in the ninth over.



Madhya Pradesh needed to strike regularly to keep themselves in the match, but these two wickets were the only success they could have had on the day. Jyoti Giri and Neelam formed an 84-run unbeaten partnership for the third wicket to take Uttarakhand home. Giri batted patiently for her 26 and at the other end Neelam scored a stroke-filled fifty from 78 balls. Uttarakhand eased past the target to the title in the 34^th over with Neelam remaining not out on 56.



Brief Scores: Madhya Pradesh 102/10 in 48.4 overs (Kalyani Jadhav 24, Soumya Tiwari 18; Pooja Raj 3/15) lost to Uttarakhand 103/2 in 34 overs (Neelam 56*, Jyoti Giri 26*) by 8 wickets