Lucknow: Defending champions Kashi Rudras held their nerve to beat Kanpur Superstars by seven runs at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow late on Thursday, registering their third consecutive victory in four matches.
Opener Sahab Yuvraj Singh led Kashi’s recovery with a 56-ball 91 after they had slipped to 46/4, while Sunil Kumar claimed three wickets as Kanpur were bowled out for 160 in 19.4 overs while chasing 168.
Yuvraj leads Kashi recovery
Kashi were in early trouble after losing four wickets for 46, but Yuvraj steadied the innings when the top and middle order had struggled.
He found support from Shubham Chaubey, with the pair adding a crucial 64 runs for the fifth wicket. After getting through the difficult phase, Yuvraj stepped up the scoring and went on to make 91 off 56 deliveries, hitting seven boundaries and five sixes.
The knock is now the third-highest individual score by a batter in UPT20 history and helped Kashi set Kanpur a target of 168.
“The situation demanded patience and my focus was to stay till the end and give the team a strong total. Shubham and I understood that we had to rebuild the innings, and once we got through that phase, we could attack,” Yuvraj said after the match.
“I am very happy that I could step up when the team needed me and put up a defendable total. The bowling unit then did a fabulous job to defend it.”
Sunil strikes as Kashi defend 168
Kanpur remained in the contest during the chase, but Sunil produced the key wickets to keep Kashi in the game.
With Kanpur needing 19 runs from the final two overs, Sunil returned to bowl the penultimate over and put the Rudras back in control. He finished with figures of 3/42.
Kanpur still required 14 from the last over, but Atal Bihari Rai handled the pressure and closed out the match. Kanpur were dismissed for 160 in 19.4 overs as Kashi completed a seven-run victory.
“The pressure was high, especially when they needed only 19 from two overs. I trusted my plans and focused on taking wickets rather than thinking about the runs,” Sunil said.
“As a bowling unit, we kept believing in ourselves and trusted each other to get the job done. Atal bowled a fantastic final over and held his nerve brilliantly. It was a great team effort, and I am really happy that we could close out another important win.”
Kashi Rudras will next face Gorakhpur Lions at 3 PM IST on Saturday, August 22.
