A month after his fine bowling in Sri Lanka, Rinku Singh has delivered another outstanding performance while bowling in the Uttar Pradesh T20 League. In a pulsating encounter between Rinku’s Meerut Mavericks and Kanpur Superstars at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Wednesday, September 4.  Rinku produced a breathtaking display with the ball and saved his team from the jaws of defeat.

Kanpur, chasing a small target of 106 runs in nine overs -DLS adjustment- were at 61/3 in five overs. Rinku took the charge in the final over of the powerplay. He struck on the second ball when he sent Shaurya Singh back, who had hit a boundary on the previous ball. On the fifth delivery, Rinku got his second scalp, Adarsh Singh for a golden duck as the latter was deceived by a googly. He finished his over with a third wicket as Sudhanshu Sonkar was caught at deep midwicket off a two-ball duck. After that fine over of Rinku, Kanpur’s innings never recovered and collapsed at 83 runs in the eighth over by a 22-run defeat.

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The three wickets by Zeeshan Ansari complemented Rinku’s heroics well. The rain first stopped play when Mavericks were 49/2 in seven overs, but the match resumed as a nine-over-a-side affair. A quickfire fifty in the last two overs by Madhav Kaushik kept Mavericks in a strong position. For most of the time, Kanpur looked ahead in the game, but one decisive over by Rinku turned the match in favour of Mavericks.

The Mavericks top the table with five wins from six matches, a net run rate of 2.3. Kanpur are languishing fifth with two wins from six games and an NRR of -0.51. Rinku had created something of an impact in the recently-concluded third T20I against Sri Lanka, where he took two wickets in the penultimate over.