Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy: UP beat Himachal Pradesh by 7 wickets

Kanpur: Madhav Kaushik and Rinku Singh's unbeaten knock of 38 and 45 runs respectively and their 74-run partnership for the fourth wicket helped UP defeat Himachal Pradesh by 7 wickets in the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy match held at the Wankhede stadium Mumbai on Monday.Himachal Pradesh, opting to bat first, managed 100 runs in 18.2 overs while UP achieved the target scoring 3 for 104 runs in 13.3 overs. UP's innings commenced shakily, losing their top three batsmen Swastik Chikara (0), Aryan Juyal (16) and Nitish Rana (3) on 3 for 30.Madhav Kaushik then forged an alliance with Rinku Singh, steering UP to victory. Madhav's unbeaten 38 runs came off 37 deliveries, including 2 boundaries and 2 sixes. Rinku Singh's aggressive 45 not out featured 4 boundaries and 3 sixes in 24 balls.RR Dhawan, Vaibhav G Arora and Divesh R Sharma each claimed one wicket.Himachal Pradesh's innings faltered from the onset. They lost half their side at 49 runs and slumped to 8 for 76. MJ Dagar emerged as their highest scorer with 27 runs from 23 balls.PS Chopra (14), Mukul Negi (16) and RR Dhawan (10) were the other batsmen reaching double figures. Piyush Chawla claimed 4 wickets.Brief score: Himachal Pradesh-100 (PS Chopra 14, RR Dhawan 10, Mukul Negi 16, MJ Dagar 27, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 1/20, Mohsin Khan 2/16, Vineet Panwar 2/1, Shivam Mavi 1/34, Piyush Chawla 4/12). UP-3/104 (Aryan Juyal 16, Madhav Kaushik 38, Rinku Singh 45, RR Dhawan 1/25, Vaibhav G Arora 1/32, Divesh R Sharma 1/7).