Jyoti Prasad Yadav turned in an impressive all-round show, scoring 88 and then grabbing two wickets with his left arm spin, to enable Uttar Pradesh beat Punjab by 36 runs and enter the semi-finals of the Ranji Inter-State One-Day knock-out tournament in Mumbai on Saturday.
Uttar Pradesh, put into bat by Punjab, were dismissed for 251 in 49.3 overs, but the latter lost their way after a promising start and were shot out for 215 in 47.1 overs at the Brabourne stadium.
The 27-year-old Yadav, who hit nine fours and a six in his 107-ball knock after coming in at 1 for one, and number five batsman Ravikant Shukla, who scored a breezy 61 off 70 balls with 4 fours and 3 sixes, helped Uttar Pradesh pile a healthy total.
Yadav then combined forces nicely with another left arm tweaker, Praveen Gupta, who grabbed four wickets, including those of openers Ravneet Ricky and Reetinder Singh Sodhi, after the duo had put on 62 runs, to make deep inroads in the Punjab top order from which they never recovered fully.
The duo was well supported by medium pacer Praveen Kumar, who picked three wickets coming in at first change, and off spinner Suresh Raina, who took the remaining wicket.
Pankaj Dharmani top-scored for Punjab with 41. Punjab, soundly placed at 131 for 2 at one stage, lost wickets thereafter at regular intervals to lose the tie.
UP will now meet champions and hosts Mumbai, who trounced Orissa by 158 runs in the other quarter-final, in the semifinal at the Wankhede stadium on April 12.
Scorecard
Uttar Pradesh:
Praveen Kumar c Unyal b Gagandeep Singh 34
Rohit Prakash c Ricky b Vineet Sharma 0
Jyoti Prasad Yadav run out 88
Suresh Raina st Dharmani b S P Singh 6
Rizwan Shamsad c Gagandeep Singh b Vipul Sharma 13
Ravikant Shukla c Sodhi b Unyal 61
Ali Hameed c Dharmani b Unyal 18
Amir Khan b Sodhi 1
R P Singh not out 14
Ratnesh Mishra c Dharma b Vineet Sharma 0
Praveen Gupta run out 0
Extras: (lb 6, w 9, nb 1) 16
Total: (all out in 49.3 overs) 251
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-53, 3-83, 4-124, 5-168, 6-208, 7-220, 8-250, 9-250
Bowling: Gagandeep Singh 6-0-39-1, Vineet Sharma 9.3-0-40-2, S P Singh 9-0-38-1, Sodhi 10-0-41-1, Vipul Sharma 7-0-38-1, Unyal 8-0-49-2.
Punjab:
R Ricky c Shamsad b Gupta 23
R S Sodhi c Amir Khan b Gupta 33
Munish Sharma c Gupta b Jyoti Yadav 22
Pankaj Dharmani c Hameed b Jyoti Yadav 41
Ankur Kakkar b Praveen Kumar 20
Gaurav Gupta lbw Praveen Kumar 20
Amit Unyal b Raina 19
S P Singh st Khan b Gupta 4
Vipul Sharma c and b Praveen Kumar 9
Gagandeep Singh not out 5
Vineet Sharma c Khan b Gupta 1
Extras: (w 12, nb 6) 18
Total: (all out in 47.1 overs) 215
Fall of wickets: 1-62, 2-65, 3-131, 4-134, 5-176, 6-177, 7-182, 8-196, 9-214
Bowling: R P Singh 6-0-17-0, Mishra 5-0-32-0, Praveen Kumar 7-0-30-3, Gupta 9.1-1-40-4, Jyoti Yadav 10-0-54-2, Raina 10-0-42-1.