Kashi Rudras avenge last year's final loss, wallop Meerut Mavericks for UPT20 title

Lucknow: The UPT20 League title returned to Kashi Rudras’ hands after resting with Meerut Mavericks for a year when the Varanasi-based franchise avenged last year’s loss with a convincing eight-wicket win in the grand finale of the 2025 season.

Though the result was the same as in 2023 final, it was more one-sided this time. Rudras had won the 2023 title by seven wickets with five balls to spare. This time they swept aside their opponents with eight wickets and 4.2 overs to spare.

On Saturday night, at the Ekana Cricket Stadium, Mavericks won the toss and chose to bat. The decision did not turn out to be a great one.

Meerut Mavericks lost Swastik Chikara on the very first ball of the match off Sunil Kumar. Akshay Dubey tried to regain the momentum but could not really get going and got his stumps rattled by Kartik Yadav. Captain Madhav Kaushik after choosing to bat hoped for a good day but struggled for his six runs and the Mavericks could manage only 36 runs in the powerplay losing three wickets.

The innings could not really gather momentum. The middle order tried their best but none of the batsmen could go on to score much barring Prashanth Chaudhary who scored 37 off 29 balls. Ritik Vats tried to put some pressure on the bowlers but holed out for 18, managing to hit two sixes.

The loss of toss was a blessing in disguise for Kashi Rudras, as their bowlers did not let the batsmen get off the hook. They held on and managed to take wickets at regular intervals not giving any breathing space to the Mavericks’ batsmen. Shivam Mavi looked in great rhythm and accounted for two wickets on his way to the Purple Cap. His yield included the prized scalp of captain Madhav Kaushik. Kartik Yadav and Sunil Kumar also bagged two wickets each.

The way Kashi Rudras bowled, it gave very little chance to the Mavericks. Whatever chance was left for the Mavericks to stage a comeback through their bowling was dealt a blow by the ruthless Rudras batsmen.

Captain Karan Sharma lead from the front and did not let the Mavericks bowlers to settle with a blazing 65 off 31 with a strike rate of more than 200. He was ably supported by Abhishek Goswami who played a subdued but intelligent innings of an unbeaten 57 and took his team home. When Karan Sharma fell to Kartik Tyagi (the only bright spot for their bowlers) miscuing a slower one to covers, the score was 108 after 9.4 overs and reaching the target was only a formality.

If the Mavericks’ batsmen found scoring hard, their bowlers were even clueless to the batting onslaught of the Rudras’ openers. It was a clinical performance from the Rudras and they outplayed the Mavericks in every department. The atmosphere at Ekana was electric -- the crowd poured in as the Lucknowites did what they usually do and that is to not disappoint, coming in large numbers with the official attendance reaching a touch above 34,000.

The Mavericks had won the 2024 final against Rudras by five wickets.

Brief Scores

Meerut Mavericks 144/9 in 20 overs (Prashanth Choudhary 37, Ritik Vats 18, Shivam Mavi 2/24, Kartik Yadav 2/23) lost to Kashi Rudras 148/2 (Karan Sharma 65, Abhishek Goswami 61 not out, Kartik Tyagi 1/19, Yash Garg 1/12)

Tags : Kashi Rudras, Meerut Mavericks, UPT20, Shivam Mavi, Ekana, Lucknow