Kanpur: With a five-wicket haul by left-arm spinner Shiva Singh, including a hat-trick, the Noida Super Kings stunned unbeaten Meerut Mavericks by five wickets in a rain-hit, five-over-a-side thriller at Green Park Stadium on Sunday night. The victory not only ended Meerut’s winning run but also sealed Noida’s place in the playoffs.Noida finished the league stage with 10 points from 10 matches, with five wins and five defeats, and became the third team after Meerut Mavericks and Lucknow Falcons to qualify for the playoffs. They will now feature in the Eliminator.Rain played a major role in the second match of the day. After Lucknow Falcons had thrashed Gorakhpur Lions in the opening game, moderate showers delayed the start of the Meerut-Noida clash. The match was first reduced to 15 overs a side, but Meerut skipper Divyansh Joshi’s decision to bat first was followed by another bout of heavy rain after just two deliveries, with five runs on the board. Ground staff worked tirelessly to get the match underway and eventually, the contest was reduced to a five-over shootout.Swastik Chikara tried to provide Meerut with a quick start but was stumped by Aditya Sharma off Prashant Veer for 14 off nine balls. Then came the Shiva Singh show.The spinner ripped through the Meerut middle order, claiming three wickets in successive deliveries spread across two overs to complete the league’s second-ever hat-trick. He finished with extraordinary figures of 5/6 as Meerut could manage only 33/7 in their five overs.Singh’s feat was only the second hat-trick in UP T20 League history, after Kartik Tyagi, and the first of the current season.Chasing a DLS-revised target of 35, Noida lost Madhav Kaushik to Aarush Goel in the opening over. But Impact Player Ravi Singh quickly turned the contest on its head, smashing 17 off just six balls, including back-to-back sixes off Nadeem.Nadeem hit back in spectacular fashion, picking up three wickets in four deliveries to give Meerut a glimmer of hope. Ansh Dwivedi then removed Shiva Singh in the fourth over.But with only 35 required, Noida had enough cushion and completed the chase in just 3.3 overs to register a memorable five-wicket victory and book their play-off berth.
