Vijay Hazare Trophy: Saurashtra beat Rinku Singh's Uttar Pradesh to enter semis

NEW DELHI: Saurashtra secured a place in the semifinals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy after defeating Uttar Pradesh by 17 runs through the VJD method in a rain-hit contest on Monday. The result was decided after rain stopped play during Saurashtra’s chase, with captain Harvik Desai playing a key role with an unbeaten century.Asked to bat first, Uttar Pradesh posted 310 for eight in their allotted 50 overs. Rinku Singh's side was without wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel, who had joined the Indian team following Rishabh Pant’s injury. Despite his absence, Uttar Pradesh recovered well after early setbacks and put up a competitive total at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground 2.Uttar Pradesh had an early blow when Aryan Juyal was dismissed for a duck with the score at 10.

Rituraj Sharma also failed to settle, as Saurashtra made early inroads. The recovery was led by Abhishek Goswami and Sameer Rizvi, who steadied the innings with a key partnership.Goswami scored 88 off 82 balls, hitting 12 fours, while Rizvi also made 88, striking 10 boundaries and two sixes. Rizvi added 45 runs with Goswami and later put together a 50-run stand with Prashant Veer, who scored 30 off 31 balls. Captain Rinku Singh was dismissed for 13 off 20 deliveries.

Priyam Garg contributed 35 off 39 balls in the middle order and added 57 runs for the third wicket with Goswami. Toward the end, leg-spinner Zeeshan Ansari scored 20 off 11 balls to help Uttar Pradesh cross the 300-run mark.For Saurashtra, Chetan Sakariya was the standout bowler, picking up three wickets for 54 runs. Ankur Panwar and Prerak Mankad took two wickets each, although Panwar conceded 75 runs in his full quota of overs.In reply, Saurashtra reached 238 for three in 40.1 overs before rain brought an end to play.

With the V Jayadevan method applied, Saurashtra were declared winners, needing 77 runs from the final 10 overs at the time of interruption.Captain Harvik Desai led from the front and remained unbeaten on exactly 100 from 116 balls when play was halted. His innings included eight fours and two sixes. Desai shared a crucial 133-run stand for the second wicket with Prerak Mankad, who scored 67 off 66 balls.After Mankad’s dismissal, Desai found support from Chirag Jani, who was unbeaten on 40 off 31 balls. The pair added 76 runs for the fourth wicket, placing Saurashtra in a strong position before rain intervened.Uttar Pradesh entered the match as Group B toppers, having won all their league games. Saurashtra finished second in Group D with five wins from seven matches and advanced to the semifinals with this result.Brief Scores:Uttar Pradesh 310/8 in 50 overs (Abhishek Goswami 88, Sameer Rizvi 88; Chetan Sakariya 3/54)Saurashtra 238/3 in 40.1 overs (Harvik Desai 100 not out, Prerak Mankad 67, Chirag Jani 40 not out)