Ongole: Uttar Pradesh staged a miraculous comeback in the four-day Ranji game to stun Andhra Pradesh by 56 runs and register their first outright win of the season in the Group B cricket encounter here on Sunday.
New-ball bowler Ankit Rajput bagged a five-wicket haul to help bundle out out the hosts for 123 in pursuit of their 183-run chase.
The turning point for the Praveen Kumar-led side came in its second innings when No.9 batsman Mohammad Saif scored a gritty 56 to help the visitors post 309 and give a fighting victory target to the Mohammad Kaif-led Andhra.
Saif's 100-run ninth-wicket partnership with Praveen (53) provided the inspiration for a side that was bundled for 170.
Starting on their overnight score of 26 for one, Andhra top-order faltered against young Rajpoot's pace and swing and the rest of the batting fell like a pack of cards.
Number ten batsman Paidikalva Vijaykumar top-scored with a valiant 28 as Andhra lost three wickets on the score of 80.
Medium-pacer Amit Mishra and chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav bagged two wickets apiece as Praveen also chipped in with a wicket.
Praveen was adjudged the man of the match award after his four-wicket haul in the first innings and also a gritty knocks of 47 and 53 in the first and second innings respectively.
Brief Scores:
Uttar Pradesh 170 and 309 (Mohammad Saif 56, Praveen Kumar 53; Paidikalva Vijaykumar 4-68)
Andhra Pradesh 297 and 123 all out in 47.3 overs (Paidikalva Vijaykumar 28, Srikar Bharat 16; Ankit Rajpoot 5-35)
Points: Uttar Pradesh 6, Andhra Pradesh 0.
