Delhi: In Qualifier-1 of UP T20 League 2026, captain Bhuvneshwar Kumar presented a brilliant example of his swing bowling and took Lucknow Falcons to the finals. In the match played at Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow defeated Meerut Mavericks by 47 runs. With this victory, Lucknow Falcons made it to the finals of the UP T20 League for the first time in four seasons.

20 over match played even after rain

The match started a little late due to rain, but despite this the match was played for full 20 overs.

Meerut Mavericks captain Rinku Singh won the toss and decided to bowl first. Along with Rinku, leading spinner Zeeshan Ansari also returned to the team. Both were busy with the Central Zone team in the Duleep Trophy.

Lucknow did not have a good start and the team kept losing wickets continuously. However, Himanshu Singh maintained one end. He played a brilliant inning of 61 runs in 45 balls. During this, 6 fours and 2 sixes came from his bat.

Zeeshan returned and bowled brilliantly and took 3 wickets for 14 runs in 4 overs. Karthik Tyagi also took 2 wickets. On the strength of these bowlers, Meerut all out Lucknow for 145 runs in 19.4 overs.

Bhuvneshwar's deadly bowling

The Lucknow team, which came out to defend the target of 145 runs, needed wickets in the beginning itself. Captain Bhuvneshwar took full advantage of the cloudy weather and troubled the Meerut batsmen with his swing balls.

Bhuvneshwar took 4 wickets for just 10 runs. He also bowled 18 dot balls in his spell. In front of his brilliant bowling, Meerut's top order completely disintegrated and the team lost 7 wickets for just 36 runs in 10.3 overs.

Abhinandan Singh also supported Bhuvneshwar well by taking two important wickets. He dismissed Swastik Chikara and Captain Rinku. Rinku scored 34 runs in 40 balls.

Zeeshan Ansari struggled a bit by scoring 30 not out in 33 balls, but the target was far away. Meerut team could score only 98 runs in 20 overs and lost the match by 47 runs.

With this victory, Lucknow directly reached the final to be held on Sunday. Meanwhile, Meerut Mavericks will now have the last chance to reach the finals by winning Qualifier-2.