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Dhruv Jurel proved to be Uttar Pradesh's star performer as they continued their winning streak in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and handed a five-wicket defeat to Bengal. It was a brilliant all-round display from UP as they outclassed their opponents on both the batting and bowling fronts.
After being invited to bat first, Bengal had a dismal start and lost openers Karan Lal and Abhimanyu Easwaran within the first five overs. Anustup Majumdar would also depart cheaply for 13 in the eighth over as Bengal went down to 61/3. Though their top-order got dismissed in the opening few overs, the duoof Sudip Gharami and Shahbaz Ahmed formed a strong partnership to pull the side out of danger.
Gharami's valuable knock
The two batted sensibly and kept the scoreboard ticking as Bengal crossed the 100-run mark without losing any more wickets. Gharami soon reached his half-century, but Shahbaz ended up falling short and got dismissed by Zeeshan Ansari for 43 runs.in the 28th over. Gharami preserved his wicket, but didn't get much support from the other end as next batter Shakir Gandhi lost his wicket for 17. The former would end up missing out on a well-deserved hundred and would get dismissed on 94 runs by Prashant Veer.
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Bengal looked to be in trouble at 226/7, but Akash Deep's valiant cameo of 33 helped them get to a fighting total of 269 before being bundled out for 269 runs in 45.1 overs. Ansari was UP's star performer with the ball and racked up three wickets while while both Karan Choudhary and Vipraj Nigam chipped in with two scalps each.
In reply, UP lost opener Abhishek Goswami in the second over to Akash Deep, but their ship got steadied by the duo of Aryan Juyal and Dhruv Jurel. The duo formed a massive partnership and smacked opposing bowlers all around the park. Both of them reached their half-centuries soon after, but Juyal wasn't able to continue for long and got dismissed by Ankit Mishra for 56 runs. The wicket didn't stop Jurel and he continued to punish the Bengal bowling attack.
Jurel scores robust hundred
He then formed a 60-run stand with Priyam Garg and went on to register a fine century, taking UP closer to victory. After being dropped from the Indian team for the upcoming ODI series against New Zealand, Jurel has sent a clear-cut message to the selectors with this knock. He eventually got dismissed for 123 runs due to a run-out, but the damage was already done. The 24-year-old hit nine boundaries and five sixes in what was a match-winning knock.
Rinku Singh's unbeaten cameo of 37 took UP over the finish line as they achieved the 270-run target with 46 deliveries left to spare. They have now made it seven wins in as many matches and have qualified for the quarter-finals by topping Elite Group B with 28 points. On the other hand, Bengal have failed to qualify after finishing fourth in the group with 16 points.
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