LUCKNOW, Nov. 1 -- Out of their seven league matches in the last season of the Ranji Trophy, former champions Uttar Pradesh could win just one game and, that too, against poor-performing Bihar. A sixth-place finish in the eight-team contest was quite frustrating for the side. Fate was not on UP's side even in white-ball cricket when they failed in the quarterfinal hurdle in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy and didn't manage to even qualify for the knockouts of the Vijay Hazare Trophy (50-over event). Things have changed a bit this season with Uttar Pradesh gaining the first-innings lead against both Assam and Odisha in their first two home games in Kanpur this month. However, an outright win is still elusive for the side. This will be on the mind of Delhi-boy Karan Sharma and his men when they take on hosts and former champions Baroda in the former's first away game of the Ranji Trophy season. The game starts Saturday in Vadodara. In the points table, Baroda (7 pts) is a point ahead of Uttar Pradesh. They will have the advantage of playing on the home turf and have a win already in their pocket. So far, Baroda and Uttar Pradesh have locked horns on five occasions in the past. Their head-to-head record in the Ranji stands at 2-2. Both teams love facing each other and really shine when they test each other's mettle. In their previous matches of the season so far, UP's top-order batters have done well with the trio from Delhi-Karan Sharma (123 runs), Madhav Kaushik (121) and Aaradhya Yadav (118 runs)---scoring tons. But three other batters-keeper Aryan Juyal (66 runs), Abhishek Goswami (48 runs) and former India U-19 captain in the World Cup Priyam Garg (49 runs)---struggled to find their form. Garg's last 50 came in a T20 game against Delhi almost a year ago in December 2024. "We need to replace the non-performers and will take a call on them only after seeing the pitch of Kotambi Stadium here tomorrow morning. Having six points from the first two games give us the liberty to try other batters here," said a team official, preferring anonymity on the eve of the Elite Group A encounter. "In fact, we need to have a fresh start at this stage of the event. We need to notch up our first outright win of the season to go up the points table," he added. As far as Uttar Pradesh's bowling is concerned, leg-spinner Vipraj Nigam will again be the key player against Baroda. This all-rounder can change the complexion of the game both with the ball and willow. Barabanki's Nigam, 21, has so far scored 74 at an average of 73.00 with 42 being his best and leads the bowlers table for UP with six wickets. Left-arm orthodox spinner Shivam Sharma (4 wkts) and Team India discard pacer Shivam Mavi (5 wkts) will also be aiming to make use of the conditions at Vadodara. Baroda's batting revolves around Mitesh Patel (102 runs), Shivalik Sharma (159 runs), Vishnu Solanki (151 runs) and all-rounder Atit Sheth (114 runs, 4 wkts). They would also be expecting their key bowlers like Bhargav Bhatt (7 wkts), Mahesh Pithiya (6 wkts) and Rasikh Salam (4 wkts) to perform well in the match against Uttar Pradesh. Defending champions Uttar Pradesh reached on top of the table with 14 points in Group D of the Women's Under-19 T20 Trophy even though not a single ball could be bowled in their penultimate league match against Jharkhand at the RDCA Ground in Raipur on Friday due to rain. The two teams split two points each with the abandoned match. Now, Uttar Pradesh will play their last match against Gujarat (14 pts) on Sunday and even if they lose the game, they will be making it to the knock out as four others teams in the fray Saurashtra (8 pts), Jharkhand (8 pts), Odisha (4 pts) and MP (0 pts) won't be able to make the cut even if they win their last league matches....