Vipraj Nigam's all-round performance took Uttar Pradesh into the quarterfinals of the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024 as Bhuvneshwar Kumar-led UP defeated Andhra by four wickets in the second pre-quarterfinals on Monday. (More Cricket News)

The match took many turns but finally came to Uttar Pradesh's side when Vipraj joined Rinku Singh on the ground with UP still needing 48 runs in the last four overs.

Rinku started the attack and targeted KV Sasikanth in the 17th over. He hit a four then a six in the first four deliveries and Nigam smashed a four then a six on the first two deliveries of his inning to collect 22 runs from the over.

Now, the equation was easy for both batters. They needed one more bad over but Satyanarayana Raju conceded just nine runs in his next over which left them for 17 needed off the last two overs.

Cheepurapalli Stephen came to bowl his last over and Rinku welcomed him with a boundary. Vipraj hit him for a massive six then a four to finish the game as Rinku took a single on the last delivery of the over to help his team win the match with one over to spare.

Earlier, Uttar Pradesh had opted to bowl first in Bengaluru's M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. The venue is Royal Challengers Bengaluru's home ground and UP captain Bhuvneshwar Kumar is set to play for RCB in the IPL 2025 and many fans came with placards and hoardings for Bhuvi.

SDNV Prasad and KV Sasikanth played unbeaten knocks for Andhra to take their team's score past 150 runs after a shaky start by top-order batters. Bhuvi and Nigam took a couple of wickets each whereas Mohsin Khan and Shivam Mavi shared one wicket each.

UP openers also gave a flying start but after Kodavandla Sudharsan's two wickets in one over, the run-rate fell and Uttar Pradesh saw a batting collapse from the top-order batters.

Now, after this win, Uttar Pradesh will face Delhi in the quarterfinal match on Wednesday in Bengaluru.