Rinku Singh has been effective with his bowling of late.© Twitter
Meerut Mavericks continued their dominance and remained on top of the points table with another victory in the UP T20 2024 as they defeated the Kanpur Superstars by 22 runs via the DLS method. Having set a target of 106 in nine overs in the 20th game of the competition at the BRSABV Ekana Stadium the Mavericks bowled Kanpur out for 83 to clinch their sixth victory. A solid showing with the bat from Madhav Kaushik helped Meerut make 90 from their nine overs despite a relatively slow start. Zeeshan Ansari followed that up with a continuation of his dream run this season with a three-wicket haul in the two overs he bowled in the chase. Zeeshan's spell, which came after Ankur Malik's 13-ball 33 had given the Kanpur side the start they needed, proved to be the turning point of the game.
Having come on to bowl with the score at 43/1 in four overs, Ansari was smashed for a six and a four in the first three balls he bowled to Sameer Rizvi. The Kanpur skipper should have, however, gone on to finish off the game from that point onward but an inside edge rolled back onto stumps off the fourth ball of that fifth over. Ansari had the opening he wanted and he followed it up with a couple more wickets in his spell.
Over the next three overs, Kanpur lost seven wickets, scoring only 28 runs in the process as they capitulated to 83 all out in 7.4 overs. Captain Rinku Singh pocketed three wickets in the only over he bowled as well to help pull off a stunning comeback for his side.
Earlier, it was a tale of two halves for Meerut Mavericks when they were inserted into bat after Kanpur Superstars opted to field first. In the first seven overs of their innings, the Mavericks were steadily building a solid score until the rain interrupted play.
When they returned to face the final two overs of the innings after a lengthy rain break, they batted without inhibitions. Kaushik exhibited fireworks that took them to a score they definitely needed heading into the break.
Rain came down at the end of the seventh over of the Meerut innings by which time the Mavericks had made only 49/2 from seven overs. And even that was an improvement on the kind of start they had got after Swastik Chikara had been dismissed for a duck, shouldering arms to a Vineet Panwar in the very first over.
A slog over mid-wicket got Akshaye Dubey the first six of the game and while he departed the very next over to a superb running catch by Sameer Rizvi, Kaushik hit another boundary to eke out 12 in that over.
When they returned after the rain break, Kaushik, who was on 18 from 17 balls at that time, smashed back-to-back sixes off Shubham Mishra to signal his intentions.
Another four followed off Rituraj Sharma's bat before he was dismissed but Kaushik continued to blaze away, hitting Rishabh Rajput for two sixes and two fours in the final over of the innings to get to his half-century from only 26 balls. In turn, he had propelled his side from 49/2 in seven overs to 90/3 in nine.
The target was changed to 106 which proved to be way more than what they needed to grab the victory.
Brief scores: Kanpur Superstars 83 all out in 7.4 overs (Ankur Malik 33, Sameer Rizvi 21; Rinku Singh 3-7, Zeeshan Ansari 3-26) lost to Meerut Mavericks 90/3 in 9 overs (Madhav Kaushik 52, Rituraj Sharma 18; Shubham Mishra 2-30) by 22 runs via the DLS method.