Uttar Pradesh Sets Competitive Target of 310 in Vijay Hazare Trophy Quarter-Final

Uttar Pradesh's Strong Performance

On Monday, in the second quarter-final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy held in Bengaluru, Sameer Rizvi and Abhishek Goswami played pivotal roles, helping Uttar Pradesh achieve a total of 310 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in their 50 overs.

Saurashtra's Early Breakthroughs

Saurashtra, having won the toss, chose to bowl first and quickly made significant inroads into the Uttar Pradesh batting order. Left-arm pacer Chetan Sakariya made an immediate impact by dismissing opener Aryan Juyal for a duck. He followed this by taking out Rituraj Sharma for just 12 runs, putting Uttar Pradesh in a challenging position.

Goswami's Steadying Influence

After the initial setbacks, Abhishek Goswami partnered with Priyam Garg to stabilize the innings, adding 57 runs together. Garg scored a solid 35 runs off 39 balls before being dismissed, which brought captain Rinku Singh to the crease. Unfortunately, Rinku faced a rare failure, scoring only 13 runs before being dismissed by Prerak Mankad.

Goswami continued to anchor the innings, aiming for a century but ultimately fell short, scoring 88 runs off 82 balls with 12 boundaries before being dismissed by Parswaraj Rana. At this point, Uttar Pradesh was at 179 runs for 5 wickets in 33.2 overs.

Rizvi's Late-Game Contributions

With the innings in a precarious position, Sameer Rizvi stepped up, forming a crucial 50-run partnership with Prashant Veer. Veer contributed 30 runs off 31 balls before becoming Sakariya's third wicket of the match.

Vipraj Nigam joined Rizvi but managed only 13 runs before being bowled by Ankur Panwar. In the closing stages, Zeeshan Ansari added some quick runs, scoring 20 off 11 balls, which helped push the total further. Rizvi finished the innings unbeaten on 88 runs from 77 balls, including 10 fours and 2 sixes, ensuring Uttar Pradesh surpassed the 300-run mark.

Bowling Highlights for Saurashtra

Chetan Sakariya was the standout bowler for Saurashtra, achieving figures of 3 wickets for 54 runs in his 10 overs. Prerak Mankad and Ankur Panwar both took 2 wickets, with Mankad finishing with 2/47 and Panwar 2/75. Parswaraj Rana contributed with 1 wicket for 24 runs.