Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], January 12 : Sameer Rizvi and Abhishek Goswami played crucial knocks to guide Uttar Pradesh to a competitive total of 310/8 in their allotted 50 overs against Saurashtra in the second quarter-final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy in Bengaluru on Monday.
After winning the toss, Saurashtra opted to bowl first and made early inroads into the Uttar Pradesh batting line-up. Left-arm pacer Chetan Sakariya struck in the very beginning by dismissing opener Aryan Juyal for a duck. Sakariya soon added another wicket to his tally, removing Rituraj Sharma for 12 to put Uttar Pradesh under pressure.
Following the early setbacks, Abhishek Goswami steadied the innings with Priyam Garg, with the pair adding 57. Garg played a fluent knock of 35 off 39 balls before being dismissed, bringing Uttar Pradesh captain Rinku Singh to the crease. However, Rinku endured a rare failure in the tournament and was dismissed for 13 by Prerak Mankad.
Goswami continued to anchor the innings and looked set for a century but fell short of the milestone. The opener scored a fine 88 off 82 balls, hitting 12 boundaries, before being dismissed by Parswaraj Rana. At that stage, Uttar Pradesh were placed at 179/5 in 33.2 overs.
The responsibility then fell on Sameer Rizvi, who found support from Prashant Veer as the duo added a vital 50-run partnership. Veer contributed 30 off 31 balls before becoming Sakariya's third victim of the match. Vipraj Nigam joined Rizvi next but managed 13 runs before being bowled by Ankur Panwar.
Towards the end, Zeeshan Ansari provided some late momentum with a quick 20 off 11 balls, striking a few boundaries to push the total further. Rizvi, however, remained the key figure, finishing unbeaten on 88 off 77 balls, an innings that included 10 fours and two sixes, as he ensured that Uttar Pradesh crossed the 300-run mark.
For Saurashtra, Chetan Sakariya was the standout bowler, returning figures of 3/54 from his 10 overs. Prerak Mankad (2/47) and Ankur Panwar (2/75) chipped in with two wickets each, while Parswaraj Rana finished with 1/24.