Vijay Hazare Trophy: Tomar, Sharma shine as Rajasthan beat Goa

After a long time, Rajasthan appear to have hit the right chord in the one-dayers. Deepak Hooda led team registered its second consecutive win of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021-22 after defeating Goa by 84 runs in an Elite Group 'E' match in Ranchi on Thursday. It was an all-round effort from Rajasthan where both the batsmen and bowlers delivered after Goa won the toss and decided to field first.
Pick of the bowlers, left-arm spinner Shubham Sharma’s five-wicket haul ensured Rajasthan wrapped up the proceedings before time, bundling out Goa in 42.3 overs. He recorded figures of 9.3-2-12-5.
One player who stood out again was opener Abhijeet Tomar. Unlucky to have missed out on scoring another hundred, the right-hand batsman's 92 off 109 balls gave Rajasthan a solid start and helped them score a challenging 257/8. On Wednesday, Tomar had struck his maiden century (104* off 118 balls) that proved to be a match-winning knock against Punjab.
"Definitely I am disappointed at not being able to score another century. But at the same time I am happy that I could contribute to the team's cause and anchor the innings well," Tomar told TOI after the match.
The 26-year-old batsman said that getting out in the nervous nineties was a result of lack of concentration. "I was neither nervous nor was it the bowling that played a role in getting me out at 92. I was looking to improve the run rate and in that attempt I miscued a shot that landed in the wicketkeeper's hands," the Jaipur cricketer added.
Tomar mentioned that captain Hooda is ‘really happy for him', but has told him to stay focused and not get carried away. "The captain wants me to stay focused as this is a long tournament and we are yet to qualify for the knockouts," he said.
Brief score: Rajasthan 257/8; 50 overs (Abhijeet Tomar 92, Samarpit Joshi 40; Felix Almeo 2-39, Darshan Misal 2-44, Lakshay Garg 2-51) beat Goa 173; 42.3 overs (Aditya Kaushik 53; Shubham Sharma 5-12, Aniket Choudhary 3-28, Ravi Bishnoi 2-47) by 84 runs.