Ankit Rajpoot returned with career-best figures in the Elite Group C encounter against Tripura at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Monday and continued the trend of emerging as the highest wicket-taker in the match for Uttar Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy season.

Photo credit: Ekana Cricket Stadium/Facebook

The Kings XI Punjab pacer destroyed the opposition in the second innings with 6/25, accounting for the final six wickets. Already reeling at 16/3, Tripura were bundled out for a paltry 60 in 25 overs, with one player absent injured. Imtiaz Ahmed started the downfall scalping the first three batmen as the two bowled unchanged to give the home side a victory by an innings and 384 runs.

View this post on Instagram

Only i can change my life. No one can do it for me.. #stayfocused

A post shared by Ankit Singh Rajpoot (@ankitrajpoot.412) on

Rajpoot picked up a match haul of 8/67 to take his Ranji tally to 34 wickets in five games, with three fifers, at a remarkable average of 15.02.

After electing to bat first, UP declared at a massive 552/7 courtesy a double ton by Priyam Garg and centuries from Rinku Singh and Akshdeep Nath. In reply, Tripura could only muster up 108 in their first innings with Rajpoot taking 2/42 and Zeeshan Ansari 3/33.

Following on, Tripura had no response to the Ahmed-Rajpoot pace battery with only one batsman reaching double figures. The visitors had ended the second day at 33/4, which meant 16 wickets fell on the third day for just 135 runs as Rajpoot picked up his best figures in First Class cricket.