LUCKNOW, Sept. 4 -- This wasn't the sweetest end of Rinku Singh's own journey in the UPTwewnty20 League here on Wednesday, at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium as his side Meerut Mavericks (MM) lost to Kashi Rudras by a narrow margin in the first play-off.. To make it to the second consecutive final, Meerut Mavericks needed 20 runs in six balls and Rinku struck 2, 4, 4 to make it 10 in three balls. But before he could go for another 10 runs to script a sensational win in the first play-off of the third edition, Kartik Yadav took a diving catch by jumping to his front off Shivam Mavi to remove Rinku and this also brought an end to Meerut Mavericks' battle A five-run win for former champions Kashi Rudras helped them make it to the final, whereas Meerut Mavericks on Thursday will play their semi-final match against Lucknow Falcons, which defeated Gorakhpur Lions by 23 runs in Eliminator also on Wednesday. But for that match, Meerut Mavericks will be without Rinku, who will be leaving for Dubai on Thursday along with Team India for the Asia Cup. On a black soil pitch No 7, 167-run winning target wasn't that big for the Rinku and Co, but some fine bowling by Kashi Rudras bowlers, especially spinners in the middle overs and later pacers in the last couple of overs, made it difficult for the defending champions before a sizable crowd on Wednesday afternoon. At the halfway stage, the batting-heavy Meerut Mavericks looked like the favourites to chase down 167 but they were pegged back from the very start. Left-arm seamer Sunil Kumar showed his might again, sending back off-colour opener Akshay Dubey, caught at the deep square-leg fence. And while the Mavericks didn't lose another wicket till the 11th over, their trouble was their inability to keep up with the required-rate. This was despite Rituraj Sharma's (65, 38b, 9x4, 2x6) effort as he kept finding the boundary throughout his knock, hitting the fence nine times and over it on two occasions. It was at the other end that the Mavericks struggled as Swastik Chikara (25, 32b, 1x4, 1x6) failed to get going with his typical flair. It was a fine piece of fielding by Kartik Yadav off his own bowling that would help run Chikara out. Kartik would later take a brilliant tumbling catch to end Rinku's innings too to cap a fine day in the field. In the second match of the day, Lucknow Falcons batters staged a fine show to score 170/7 while batting first after winning the toss. In reply, Gorakhpur Lions could make 147/8 in 20 overs. Siddarth Yadav struck highest 50 in 41 balls with the help of five boundaries and a six. But for Lucknow Falcons, Navneet bowled a superb spell to claim 3/33, whereas veteran Bhuvenshwar Kumar and Akshu Bajwa shared four wickets between them....