Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled a double-wicket maiden in the first over of Qualifier 2 in the UPT20 League, finishing with 3/26. His spell helped reduce Meerut to 29/4 before they recovered to 143. Rain halted Lucknow’s chase, with the winner set to face Kashi Rudras in the final.
Veteran Indian pacer delivered a sensational opening spell to rattle the Meerut Mavericks in Qualifier 2 of the ongoing UPT20 League. Playing for the Lucknow Falcons, the 35-year-old struck twice in his very first over at the Ekana Stadium, removing opener Akshay Dubey on the second delivery and following it up with the wicket of Rituraj Sharma on the fifth. His double-wicket maiden over set the tone early, putting Lucknow firmly in control from the outset.
In total, Bhuvneshwar clinched three wickets in the match. Towards the latter half of the first innings, he also picked up the wicket of Ritik Vats, who departed for 13 runs off six balls. Notably, he conceded only 26 runs in his four overs as Meerut posted 143 runs on the board in the first innings.
The Madhav Kaushik-led side was put in massive trouble in the powerplay, as they were reduced to 29/4 at one stage. Since then, Divyansh Rajput and Prashanth Chaudhary took over the business and played some good cricket to bail Meerut out of trouble. They stitched a valuable partnership of 82 runs, which helped Meerut post a respectable total on the board. At one point, they didnโt look like nearing the 150 mark, but Divyanshโs knock of 67 runs off 45 balls helped the team tremendously, to say the least.
Rain stops second innings
Chasing 144 runs, Lucknow had a tremendous start. Opener Aaradhya Yadav struggled to get going, but his partner Abhay Prathap Singh found mojo early in the game, before rain stopped the game in Lucknow. If the game resumes, the hosts will be hoping to get on with the same momentum as the Bhuvneshwar Kumar-led side would fancy themselves to get the job done without much tension. Meanwhile, whichever team wins, will play Kashi Rudras in the final.
Teams:
Meerut Mavericks (Playing XI): Swastik Chikara, Akshay Dubey (wk), Madhav Kaushik (c), Rituraj Sharma, Ritik Vats, Yash Garg, Zeeshan Ansari, Vijay Kumar, Vishal Chaudhary, Kartik Tyagi, Prashanth Chaudhary
Lucknow Falcons (Playing XI): Abhay Prathap Singh, Aaradhya Yadav (wk), Ansh Yadav, Mohammad Saif, Sameer Choudhary, Kritagya Singh, Vipraj Nigam, Akshu Bajwa, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (c), Abhinandan Singh, Navneet Kumar