Lucknow, September 5 : Big players step up in big moments, but for Meerut Mavericks skipper Rinku Singh, stepping up in Qualifier 2 meant pushing through severe physical discomfort. Nursing an injured hand, the Indian international took a painkiller to take the field, ultimately guiding his team to a six-wicket victory over the Noida Kings and securing a spot in their fourth consecutive UP T20 League Grand Finale.
“I will do anything for the team, whether it involves an injury or anything else,” Rinku revealed after the match. Reflecting on their previous loss in Qualifier 1, he added, “Yesterday, I felt that if I had been even a little bit healthier and had a batter staying with me, we could have won that game. Today was the same situation. I took a painkiller and played. My hand was feeling slightly better, but I am honestly still in quite a bit of pain.”
Despite the victory, the Mavericks’ top order once again looked shaky, stumbling to 61/4 in a modest chase of 135 before Rinku (37* off 23) and Yash Garg (56* off 44) rescued the innings. The captain acknowledged the top-order fragility and detailed the team’s preparations heading into the knockout fixture.
“Our batting order hasn’t been performing quite as well as we’d like. Even today, we lost early wickets,” Rinku admitted. “I spoke to the batters yesterday about how we could prepare ourselves better, how we should approach the game mentally, and the importance of taking the match deep. That was our main discussion.”
When it comes to his own batting, finishing tricky chases has become second nature. “You have to prepare carefully and constantly think about which ball you can attack, how to rotate the strike, and how deep you are standing in the crease. Those calculations keep running through your mind. Batting at my position for so long, I have become accustomed to walking into these exact situations, needing a certain number of runs off a certain number of balls. It has just become a habit.”
While his unbeaten knock anchored the chase, Rinku was also quick to praise the bowling unit for restricting Noida to 134/8 after a strong start.
“They batted really well in the first 10 overs, and admittedly, we didn’t bowl as well as we should have initially,” Rinku observed. “But when Zeeshan [Ansari] came on after 10 overs and got Shaurya out, we finally grabbed some momentum. Then we secured Ravi’s wicket, and the pressure kept building.”
Rinku himself contributed with the ball, making a bold tactical move by bringing himself on to bowl the penultimate over, where he claimed the crucial wicket of his counterpart, Prashant Veer. “I was thinking that I should bowl to Prashant. I told Zeeshan beforehand that I could get him out, so I strongly felt it could turn out to be a really good over for me and for the team.”
The captain reserved his highest praise for Player of the Match Yash Garg, who was promoted up the order to orchestrate the chase after claiming 3/14 with the ball.
“Yash has been doing an outstanding job for our team for the last four years,” Rinku proudly stated. “He consistently contributes with crucial wickets; he is sharp in the field, and he delivers with the bat as well. In his very first UP league game, he helped us cross the line, and today he has won us the game again. He is a highly deserving player and is doing incredible things for our franchise.”
Rinku Singh and his Meerut Mavericks will now look to rest, recover, and channel this resilient energy into Sunday’s Grand Finale, where they seek redemption against the Lucknow Falcons.
