Uttar Pradesh captain Sameer Rizvi was at his explosive best on Saturday when he broke the record for the fastest fifty in the men’s Under-23 State A trophy. Rizvi etched his name in the record books during the match against Tripura in Vadodra.
Rizvi scored his double hundred off just 97 balls in an innings that featured 13 fours and 29 sixes. In List A cricket, however, New Zealand‘s Chad Bowes still holds the record for the fastest double hundred (103 balls).
Coming in to bat in the 23rd over, Rizvi’s 201-run innings helped Uttar Pradesh post a total of 405 runs in their 50 overs. In reply, Tripura were restricted to 253 runs in their second innings as Uttar Pradesh comfortably won the match by 152 runs.
This is not the first time that one of Rizvi’s knocks has caught some attention in the U-23 league. The explosive batsman has previously struck two blistering knocks of 153 and 137 and is currently the highest run-scorer in the competition with 518 runs to his name. Uttar Pradesh also sit comfortably in Group C, having won 4 of their 6 matches so far and boasting a healthy net run rate of 1.647.
Who is Sameer Rizvi?
Sameer Rizvi shot to fame after being picked up by Chennai Super Kings for ₹8.4 crore in the IPL 2024 mega auctions. However, the youngster failed to deliver for MS Dhoni’s franchise, scoring just 51 runs in 8 matches.
In this year’s mega auction, Rizvi was picked up by Delhi Capitals for a price tag of ₹95 lakh. Despite the significant drop in his salary, Rizvi is likely to get more opportunities to showcase his talent with Delhi Capitals, who will have a new captain this season. Notably, Rishabh Pant who led the Capitals for the last few years was not retained by the franchise ahead of the mega auctions and will now be seen playing for Punjab Kings.
