Commendable batting by Nishant Bhardwaj was the highlight of the match as Uttar Pradesh registered a thumping nine wicket victory against Orissa in their semi-final match of the National Twenty20 Federation Cup Championship being held at Anantnag.

Nishant scored 71 unbeaten runs in a matter of 28 balls and his knock included eight fours and five sixes. Brief Scores: Orissa: 113 for seven in 20 overs ( Pritosh 29, Shivajeet 24; Puneet Kapoor 3 for 31, Rahul Yadav 2 for 18, Zia Khursheed 2 for 22); Uttar Pradesh: 116 for one in 10.3 overs ( Nishant Bhardwaj 71 not out, Ajay Singh 34). Man-of-the-Match:Nishant Bhardwaj.

Nayudu cricket
Saurashtra were 236 for eight against Uttar Pradesh—UPCA XI at stumps on day-one in their Under-22 CK Nayudu Tournament Elite Group ‘A’ match at Kamla Club, Kanpur. The batsmen occupying the crease at the end of the day’s play were P Solanki (44) and Hardik Rathore (3). UP bowlers Bharat Awasthi and Ali Murtaza bowled with good vision and took two wickets each.

Brief Scores:- Saurashtra 1st Innings: 236 for eight in 98 overs ( A Vasavada 46, P Solanki 44 not out, Abhaydan Kunchala 41, V Joshi 34, Jaydeep Bhatti 28, Rahul Dave 26; Bharat Awasthi 2 for 29, Ali Murtaza 2 for 37, SS Tripathi 1 for 45, Umang Sharma 1 for 11, Tajumal Warsi 1 for 45, Rohit Chaudhary 1 for 63) vs UP

CAL triumphs
Cricket Association Lucknow (CAL XI) defeated Ballia by 58 runs in their league match of All India Sanjay Srivastava Memorial Day-Night Twenty20 Cricket Tournament being held at Ballia.

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