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Kanpur Superstars skipper Sameer Rizvi's 50-ball 87 went in vain as Gorakhpur Lions pulled off a thrilling three-run win in the ongoing UP T20 League 2024. Despite the captain's knock, Kanpur Superstars suffered their third loss of the tournament as they fell agonisingly short of the 178-run target.
Batting first, Gorakhpur Lions got off to a good start with a 56-run opening partnership. Mukesh Kumar got the breakthrough in the sixth over. Yashu Pradhan scored 22 runs from 18 balls. Siddharth Sarvan Yadav got off to a good start but fell for 32-ball 39. Abhishek Goswami pushed the scoring rate in the middle overs with his 27-ball 51 studded with five fours and three sixes.
In the last two overs, Gorakhpur Lions lost four wickets. Mohsin Khan struck twice with the old ball. Akashdeep Nath scored just 24 runs from 19 balls to help his side post 177/7.
Rizvi’s captain’s knock in losing cause
In the run chase, openers Shoaib Siddiqui and Shaurya Singh fell cheaply. Adarsh Singh and Rizvi took charge of the run chase. Rizvi hit Abdul Rehman for his first six of the innings. Kanpur Superstars were 53/2 after six overs. Rizvi and Adarsh did not take many chances till the 12th over. Adarsh hit Vishal Nishad for a maximum before falling to him. His 29-ball 41 included three fours and a couple of sixes.
In the next over, Faiz Ahmed for a single-digit score to Vijay Yadav. Rizvi broke free in the 15th over hitting Vijay for a couple of sixes. He reached his half-century from 33 balls. Rizvi continued to carry the run chase on his back and hit Shivam Sharma for two sixes in a row. In the 17th over, Ankur Malik was run out as well.
In the penultimate over, Sudhanshu Sonkar was run out as well. On the next over, Ankit Rajpoot got rid of Mohsin Khan. In the final over, Kanpur Superstars needed 16 runs to win. After facing a dot delivery, Rizvi hit Rehman for a six. 10 runs were needed off the last four balls when Rehman got the prized wicket of Rizvi. He scored 87 runs from 50 balls including three fours and eight sixes. On the next ball, Aquib Khan was dismissed as well. Rehman bowled five wides on the last ball but it did not affect the outcome of the game. He finished the innings with a dot ball as Gorakhpur Lions won by three runs.
Rizvi’s lacklustre maiden IPL season
Rizvi was picked for Rs 8.4 crore by CSK in the mini-auction but he failed to live up to the price tag. He scored 51 runs from five innings with a high score of 21 and a strike rate of 118.6. Ahead of the mega auction, he has scored 257 runs from five innings in UPT20 League already.
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