LUCKNOW, Nov. 27 -- Almost after lying low for five months, former India pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar is back in action. He last played a T20 game in the cash-rich Indian Premier League this June and now is playing for home state Uttar Pradesh in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in Elite Group B. Kumar, 35, was retained by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru recently for the upcoming Indian Premier League 2026 season, and on Wednesday he came up with a two-wicket haul against lowly Goa, conceding 23 runs at 5.75, helping former champions Uttar Pradesh notch up a convincing six wickets win. The match also witnessed a quick switch of young batter Sameer Rizvi, who flew down to Jadhavpur University Ground in Kolkata on Wednesday after leading Uttar Pradesh into semi-finals of the Men's U23 State A trophy, defeating mighty Mumbai at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday. Rizvi, who scored a quickfire 38 in just 26 balls with the help of four boundaries and two sixes in Uttar Pradesh's first win in the event this season on Wednesday, is expected to join back the U23 side for the semi-final match on Saturday at Kolkata after playing the second match for the side against Jammu and Kashmir on Friday. On Wednesday, it was opener and former captain Aryan Juyal, who fashioned Uttar Pradesh's convincing win, hitting a swashbuckling 57-ball unbeaten 93, which contained 11 boundaries and three sixes as Uttar Pradesh romped home with eight balls to spare while chasing Goa's 172. Juyal held the innings from one end even after losing opener and Delhi-boy Karan Sharma on duck in the very first over. First, he added 71 runs for the second wicket with Priyam Garg (28, 14b, 2x4, 2x6) and then collected 78 runs for the third wicket with Rizvi. Team India's T20 specialist batter Rinku Singh could score four runs before being caught by Suyash S Prabhudessai off Koushik V. Earlier, it was pacer Shivam Mavi, who stole the limelight for Uttar Pradesh, bagging 3/24, while Sunil Kumar, Vipraj Nigam and Prashant Veer shared three wickets between them. Abhinav Tejrana struck highest 72 for Goa, whereas Arjun Tendulkar contributed 22-ball 28 with the help of four hits to the fence. Vikas remained unbeaten on 21 as Goa posted 172/9 after being sent to bat first. Former champions Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday scored their second win in as many matches in the Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy, defeating Chhattisgarh by nine wickets at Saharanpur. With six points from this match, UP now stand at the third position in Elite Group D with 13 points. Their next match is against hosts Goa from December 1. It turned out to be just a formality for UP on Wednesday as after bowlers like Ravi Saini 94/46), Aayan Akram (3/58), Yash Panwar (2/38) and Kartikey Varshney (1/28) got Chhattisgarh out for 250 in their second innings, and then Uttar Pradesh batters led by Shanthanu Singh (35, 24b, 2x4, 3x6) scored the required 61 runs in just 9.5 overs....