Hardik's 7-72 help Gujarat beat UP by 132 runs in Ranji

Hardik Patel produced a sensational seven-wicket haul as Gujarat defeated Uttar Pradesh by 132 runs to grab six points from their Ranji Trophy Group A match at the Model Sports Complex in Palam A Ground here today.
Playing only his fifth first-class match, Hardik returned with career-best figures of 31.5-11-72-7 on the fourth and final day to leave Uttar Pradesh gasping for breath.
Resuming their second innings at 186/5, Gujarat lost their remaining five wickets for just 15 runs to set Uttar Pradesh a victory target of 308.
Shrugging off the morning blues, Gujarat then returned to bowl out Uttar Pradesh for 175 in 76.5 overs.

With this win, Gujarat zoomed to the top of the points table with 15 points from three matches.
Chasing 308, Uttar Pradesh made a watchful start but Hardik dismissed opener Eklavya Dwivedi (14) in the 7th over and then sent Samarth Singh (21) packing in the 19th over to leave UP at 61-2.

Rush Kalaria then removed Sarfaraz Khan (16) and Ishwar Choudhary then got rid of the other opener Tanmay Srivastava (37) as UP were 101-4 in 37.3 overs.
A 43-run partnership between Umang Sharma (36) and Mohammad Saif (21) was then broken by Hardik in the 59th over. Karan Patel also got into the act and dismissed Saif in the 66th over as UP further slipped to 156-6.

Hardik then dismissed the remaining four wickets -- Kuldeep Yadav (9), Sourabh kumar (11), Ankit Rajpoor (0) and Dhruv Pratap Singh (0) to complete the comprehensive victory for Gujarat.
Earlier, Kuldeep Yadav (6/79) and Sourabh Kumar (4/46) shared all the 10 Gujarat wickets.
Brief Score:
Gujarat 347 & 201
Uttar Pradesh 241 & 175 allout in 76.5 overs (Tanmay Srivastava 37; hardik Patel 7/72).