Sameer Rizvi fashions Kanpur Superstars maiden win in UPT20L
LUCKNOW, Aug. 26 -- Kanpur Superstars finally registered their first win of the tournament as they got the better of Meerut Mavericks in the rain-affected, 16th match of the UPT20 League here on Monday, at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium.
Kanpur were ahead on the DLS system when the Meerut run-chase was stalled because of inclement weather and once they went off the field, they never came back on with the rain refusing to relent, giving Kanpur a 14-run win.
And while the weather might have afforded Kanpur the bit of fortune they needed to get on to the points table, a lot of credit must go to the manner in which they bowled for those eight overs they were on the field.
A target of 150 wasn't quite a difficult task despite the conditions on offer but a three-over spell from Aaqib Khan completely stalled their innings. Aaqib bowled those three in the Powerplay and yet, conceded just five runs. Getting the ball to move both ways, he also bowled a maiden and picked up the wicket of Rituraj Sharma, caught in the slips. Earlier, Vineet Panwar had dismissed Akshay Dubey for a seven-ball duck, safely pouched at third-man off an attempted slash over the fence.
Two of the most aggressive batters in the tournament, Swastik Chikara and Madhav Kaushik joined hands at 12 for two but even they did not have it easy. Chikara did hit Shubham Mishra for a six off the first ball after the Powerplay but got just one run off the remaining five balls. And in the eighth - and what turned out to be the final - over that followed from Damandeep, they managed to pick up only five just as it began to pour.
The umpires took them off at 6.08 pm local time and they never returned with Meerut left 14 short of the par score.Earlier, it had rained right after the toss causing a delayed start to the proceedings.
Kanpur Superstars have had a forgettable season so far and it looked like their batting was headed in the same direction when play finally began after the rain stopped. On a pitch where the ball wasn't quite coming on to the bat to begin with and the outfield was at its slowest in a long time because of the earlier downpour, Kanpur just could not get going. It was only some late-order fireworks off the bat of captain Sameer Rizvi that managed to take them to 149 from their 20 overs.
For starters, the opening duo of Faiz Ahmed and Shaurya Singh made a cautious but steady start as they added 45. Rinku Singh, who had earlier won the toss and decided to field first, also took the onus of the bowling on his own shoulders and bowled three overs in the Powerplay - conceding a mere 18 runs. Nine of those came in the third over of the Kanpur innings, which, along with the nine that came in Kartik Tyagi's opening over were two of the best for Kanpur in the first six.
The Superstars, however, lost their way a little after the Powerplay. Shaurya was caught in front of square while attempting a sweep off Vishal Chaudhary while Faiz fell in the very next over to a Kartik slower one.
This was followed by a dismissal in each of the three overs between the 10-12 over mark, with Zeeshan Ansari and Yash Garg bagging one apiece and the third going to a slick piece of working in the field by Ritik Vats to run Shubanker Shukla out.
Kanpur Superstars 149 for 6 in 20 overs (Sameer Rizvi 32, Faiz Ahmed 23; Kartik Tyagi 1 for 27, Zeeshan Ansari 1 for 28) beat Meerut Mavericks 41 for 2 in 8 overs (Swastik Chikara 29*, Aaqib Khan 1 for 5, Vineet Panwar 1 for 11) by 14 runs on DLS....
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