UPT20: Rinku Singh’s explosive finish seals victory for Meerut Mavericks over Kashi Rudras in second super over of day

Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh)[India], September 1 : The Meerut Mavericks pulled off a memorable victory to begin their campaign at the historic first edition of UPT20 as they defeated Kashi Rudras in the second super over thriller of the day.
Chasing 17 runs in the Super Over, Meerut Mavericks’ star batter Rinku Singh hammered three consecutive sixes to down Kashi Rudras. Earlier in the encounter, Madhav Kaushik (88*) played a captain’s knock to help Meerut finish on 181/4. The Kashi Rudra’s response saw numerous contributions from their batters including skipper Karan Sharma (58), Shivam Bansal (57) and a last-over spectacle from M.Sharim (16*) in just four deliveries to help them level the score.
After Meerut Mavericks won the toss and decided to set a target, their innings were hindered early on as Swastik Chikara (8) was cleaned up by Shiva Singh following which Shoaib Siddiqui blazed his way to a quickfire 24 in just 15 deliveries, before he became Shiva Singh’s second victim of the night. By the end of the powerplay, the Meerut Mavericks were 57/2. Captain Madhav Kaushik (88*) came in at number three and was in scintillating form as he flew to his half-century in 34 balls. The hard-hitting Rinku Singh, however, struggled to find his flow. In search of the mid-wicket boundary, he was bowled by P Veer. Uvaish Ahmed did well to support Madhav Jaiswal, registering a nifty contribution. At the end of 15 overs, the Mavericks were well-placed at 129/3. Divyansh Joshi joined Madhav Kaushik to complete a 50-run partnership. Kaushik continued to find boundaries consistently and finished with an unbeaten knock of 87, while Divyansh Joshi finished on 17 runs, to help the Meerut Mavericks post an imposing score of 181/4.
In response, the Kashi Rudras asserted themselves from the beginning of the run chase. While Priyansh Pandey fell for a duck at the hands of P Tyagi, captain Karan Sharma and Shivam Bansal put on an exhibition of top-quality batting. They constructed a partnership of 113 runs in 74 balls tilting the scales in favour of Kashi, with both batsmen registering half-centuries. However, Karan Sharma lost his wicket to Vaibhav Chaudhary in the with the score reading 118/2 in 13 overs. Soon after, Vaibhav Chaudhary also scalped Shivam Bansal. Impact players, Ankur Malik (28) and Prince Yadav (12) were at the crease with Kashi Rudras needing 56 runs in five overs. Following a lucrative 16th and 17th over that saw 22 runs. Three quick wickets, through Prince Yadav, Shiva Sing (1) and Parv Singh (0), in the span of six deliveries made the equation seem insurmountable, with the Kashi Rudras requiring 17 runs of the final four deliveries.
However, Mohammed Sharim played a stunner to crack two sixes and a four consecutively to tie the scores. Purnank Tyagi showed incredible grit to bowl a well-directed bouncer in the last ball of the match, which resulted in a dot and ultimately the run out of Ankur Malik. The Kashi Rudras finished at 181/ 7 to cue the second Super Over of the night, which saw the Kashi Rudras set a target of 16 runs for the Meerut Mavericks on the backs of Karan Sharma’s unbeaten 10 and six runs by M. Sharim. In response, the Meerut Mavericks sailed home in style as Rinku Singh redeemed himself and smashed three consecutive sixes of Shiva Singh’s deliveries to take his team home.
Brief Scores: Meerut Mavericks – 181/4 in 20 overs and 18/0 in 0.4 overs (Madhav Kaushik 88*, Shoaib Siddiqui 24, Divyansh Joshi 17*, Shiva Singh 2/21, Parv Singh 1/19, Atal Bihari Rai 1/36 vs Kashi Rudras 181/7 in 20 overs and 16/1 in 1 over (Karan Sharma 58 runs, Shivam Bansal 57, M. Sharim 16*, Vaibhav Chaudhari 2/34, Purnank Tyagi 2/39).