CHENNAI: Sameer Rizvi impressed all and sundry with his power-packed performances during the inaugural Uttar Pradesh T20 League in August-September this year. Kanpur Superstars, the team he was leading, might not have qualified for the knock-outs but his show with the willow — he scored 455 runs from nine innings including two centuries (the second of which was the fastest of the tournament) — was enough for scouts from various IPL teams to invite the right-hand batter from Meerut for the trials before the mini-auction.
As luck would have it, Sameer, who turned 20 on Wednesday, had to miss those trials as he was asked to lead the Uttar Pradesh team in the Men's U-23 State A (ODI) Trophy. Incidentally, he was playing for the senior state team in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy in Mohali and scored 42 not out against Punjab in the losing cause when the UP Cricket Association asked him to join the U-23 squad playing its matches in Chandigarh. The next day, he scored 91 off 65 in the U-23 tournament against Rajasthan but the innings, which was laced with four 4 and 9 sixes, once again went in vain.
However, that turned out to be the last blip in UP's campaign as Sameer scored two consecutive centuries to help the team in the pre-quarterfinals. After the team won those knock-out matches, he again hammered a 50-ball 84 as UP defeated Uttarakhand in the final to lift the title.
"He got calls for trials with almost all franchises after his good show during the UP T20 League but he had to skip them as he was given the command of the U-23 state team," Tankeeb Akhtar, Sameer's coach and maternal uncle, told this daily from Meerut.
Sameer Rizvi with his coach Tankeeb Akhtar. (Photo | Special arrangement)Despite missing the trials, the coach is hopeful that he will be picked up by one of the IPL teams in the auction scheduled on December 19. "He has registered in the uncapped players' category and I am sure he will get the buyer," added Tankeeb, who is the sole reason why Sameer started playing cricket at the age of 6. "I shifted from my village to Meerut so that I could pursue cricket in 2004. I stayed with my sister Rukhsana Khatoon.
There I realised I was too late to play cricket professionally so I switched to coaching. It was at Gandhi Bagh Cricket Academy where Sameer started playing cricket in 2009. Earlier his father and my brother-in-law Haseen Rizvi used to get angry as Sameer was not focussing on his studies but once he started playing for Uttar Pradesh everything got sorted," recalled the coach.
Sameer made his Ranji Trophy debut in January 2020 when he was only 16 but the stint ended with only two matches. He then made a comeback to the state team, this time in the 50-over format, the next year and since then he has been an integral part of both the one-day and T20 squads.
In his young journey, Sameer had his share of heartbreaks as he missed the U-19 World Cup but that couldn't deter him from seeking excellence on the field. "We have been nurturing this dream to see him play in the IPL for the past couple of years but this year he has performed quite well be it the UP League or BCCI tournaments. I must thank Sanspareils Greenlands (SG) owner Paras Anand for sponsoring him since he was 10. We all will be proud if he plays in the IPL and eventually goes on to represent the country."
There is a reason why Tankeeb and others knowing Sameer are confident of him getting picked in the IPL auction. In the UP T20 League, Sameer was third in the list of leading scorers. He was joint-first with Karan Sharma for hitting the most sixes in the tournament (35). He joined the UP U-23 squad late but topped the list there as well slamming 37 sixes from seven matches. He scored 454 runs in six innings at the tournament with an average of 75.67 and a strike rate of 156.55 including two centuries.
"Playing with experienced campaigner Bhuvneshwar Kumar and T20 sensations — Rinku Singh and Nitish Rana — only helped him grow as a cricketer. All of them suggested he play his natural game and score runs in bulk. This experience will count a lot in the future." Come December 19, Sameer may turn out to be the hottest property as far as uncapped players are concerned and it would be the moment to cherish for Tankeeb, who is living his dream through his nephew. Numbers that matter UP T20 League
3rd leading scorer with 455 runs from 9 innings. Joint most sixes (35) in the tournament. Fastest century (47 balls) in the league. Men's U-23 State A Trophy
Led UP to title by scoring 454 runs from 7 matches. Most sixes (37) in the tournament.