Karan, Goswami power Kashi Rudras to second UPT20 title

Lucknow: Skipper Karan Sharma (65) and Abhishek Goswami (61) stitched together a brilliant century stand to guide Kashi Rudras to a commanding eight-wicket win over Meerut Mavericks, clinching the UPT20 League title for the second time after their triumph in the inaugural 2023 season.Led by Shivam Mavi, who finished as the tournament's highest wicket-taker with 22 wickets in 10 matches, Kashi restricted the Mavericks to 144/9 in 20 overs. Chasing a modest target, openers Goswami and Sharma put on 108 runs off just 58 balls. Sharma, who also became the only player to score over 500 runs in both editions of the league (626 in 2023), smashed 65 off 31 balls with ten boundaries and two sixes. After his dismissal, Uvais Ahmad (6) joined Goswami but departed at 121/2 in 12.2 overs, caught by Ritik Vats off Yash Garg. Goswami carried on to score 61 from 45 balls, laced with eight boundaries and one six, and sealed the victory with a superb four. Earlier, defending champions Meerut Mavericks crumbled to 43/4 in 8.1 overs before recovering to add 101 runs in the remaining 12 overs. Key contributions came from Prashanth Choudhary (37) and Divyansh Rajput (18). For Kashi, Mavi, Kartik Yadav and Sunil Singh claimed two scalps each.