Star turnSeason 3 · Week 8 · 4 matches

Anil Rawat steals the show in Week 8

Four matches at Kodai Box Cricket: NeuroStrikers won both of theirs, Mavericks went 1–1, the Outliers went 1–1 and Vikings lost both of theirs.

By The Pavilion Gossip Column·Friday, 18 September 2026·Kodai Box Cricket

Match 1Thriller

NeuroStrikers34/57

Mavericks28/37

NeuroStrikers won by 6 runs ↓

Match 2Thriller

The Outliers35/37

Vikings30/47

The Outliers won by 5 runs ↓

Match 3Result

The Outliers47/47

Mavericks48/06.3

Mavericks won by 7 wickets (3 balls left) ↓

Match 4Statement win

NeuroStrikers87/17

Vikings47/57

NeuroStrikers won by 40 runs ↓

Four matches, one evening, one box at Kodai Box Cricket: this was Week 8. Two of them went down to the wire. The standout performance belonged to Anil Rawat: 34 off 14 balls and 2/2 from 1 over. NeuroStrikers stay top, 6 points clear.

Match 1Thriller

6 runs in it: NeuroStrikers survive a Mavericks scare

NeuroStrikers 34/5 (7) · Mavericks 28/3 (7) — NeuroStrikers won by 6 runs

This one went to the wire. NeuroStrikers batted first. Rahul Kasliwal held one end together for 10 off 11 balls, though a strike rate of 91 left the scoring to others. Then the wheels came off: three wickets went down for 7 runs, 14 becoming 21/4. NeuroStrikers finished on 34/5. Jaivardhan Pathak ripped through NeuroStrikers with 3/10 from 2 overs. Harish Jangid kept things tight too, 6 runs from 2 overs.

The equation for Mavericks: 35 to win from 7 overs. Rahul Rathore top-scored with 10 off 12 balls, an innings more anchor than accelerator. The chase petered out at 28/3. For NeuroStrikers, Anil Rawat returned 2/3 from 1 over. In this fixture it is now 3–2 to NeuroStrikers this season.

Player of the Match: Jaivardhan Pathak4 off 5 balls and 3/10 from 2 overs

Match 2Thriller

The Outliers hold their nerve to edge Vikings by 5 runs

The Outliers 35/3 (7) · Vikings 30/4 (7) — The Outliers won by 5 runs

Cardiologists, look away now. The Outliers were asked to set the target. Siddharth Rao was the pick of the batters, making 13* off 11 balls, with 1 six. The Outliers finished on 35/3. With 3/3 from 2 overs, Nishant Gupta made sure the Outliers never settled. Mahesh Kumar kept things tight too, 4 runs from 2 overs.

Vikings needed 36 at 5.1 an over. Bhaskar Rathore was the pick of the batters, making 7 off 6 balls. They finished on 30/4, 6 runs short of the target and agonisingly close. Nobody got Naman Saini away: 1/4 from 2 overs, 9 dot balls among them. In this fixture it is now 3–2 to the Outliers this season.

Player of the Match: Nishant Gupta5 off 11 balls and 3/3 from 2 overs

Match 3Result

Mavericks knock off 48 to beat the Outliers

The Outliers 47/4 (7) · Mavericks 48/0 (6.3) — Mavericks won by 7 wickets (3 balls left)

The Outliers batted first. Naman Saini treated the bowling with open contempt: 30 off 15 balls, with 4 sixes and 1 four, a strike rate of 200. The 2nd-wicket stand was worth 30, the innings' best. The Outliers finished on 47/4. Jaivardhan Pathak was the miser of the innings, 2/11 from 2 overs at 5.5 an over. Ankit Jain kept things tight too, 4 runs from 2 overs.

Mavericks needed 48 at 6.9 an over. Harish Jangid led the way with 42* off 25 balls, with 4 sixes and 2 fours. They reached 48/0 with 3 balls to spare. Nobody got Siddharth Rao away: 0/7 from 2 overs, 5 dot balls among them. The Outliers still lead this season's head-to-head 3–2.

Player of the Match: Jaivardhan Pathak2/11 from 2 overs

Match 4Statement win

No contest: NeuroStrikers crush Vikings

NeuroStrikers 87/1 (7) · Vikings 47/5 (7) — NeuroStrikers won by 40 runs

One-way traffic. NeuroStrikers batted first and got through the early overs unscathed, 77/0 before the first breakthrough. Saurabh Charan led the way with 42* off 26 balls, with 2 sixes and 3 fours. Support came from Anil Rawat, whose 34 took 14 balls. The 1st-wicket stand was worth 77, the innings' best. NeuroStrikers finished on 87/1. For Vikings, Bhairav Deep returned 1/11 from 1 over. 10 extras in a 7-over innings is a gift no fielding side should be wrapping.

The equation for Vikings: 88 to win from 7 overs. Bhairav led the way with 19 off 11 balls, with 2 sixes and 1 four. Mahesh Kumar chipped in with 17 off 25 balls, with 1 four. The chase lurched when four wickets fell for 7 runs. The chase petered out at 47/5. For NeuroStrikers, Anil returned 2/2 from 1 over. Sagar backed it up with 2/26 from 2 overs. The season series between the two is level at 3–3.

Player of the Match: Anil Rawat34 off 14 balls and 2/2 from 1 over

For the record books

87 is the highest team total of the season so far.

The Banter Verdict

A golden duck for Mahesh Kumar. One ball, one walk back, zero regrets — we're told the bat is still in mint condition.

Star of the day

Anil Rawat

NeuroStrikers

34 off 14 balls and 2/2 from 1 over

34 off 14 balls and 2/2 from 1 over — nobody had a bigger say on the day than Anil Rawat. Measured against the conditions of the game, no one did more in Week 8.

The day in numbers

356: runs across the day, 6.4 an over
19: sixes
42*: top score, Harish Jangid (25 balls)
3/3: best bowling, Nishant Gupta
60%: dot balls (201 of 333)
39: extras conceded

Season 3 table, after Week 8

Team	P	W	Pts	NRR
1NeuroStrikers	16	10	20	+0.87
2Vikings	15	7	14	+0.04
3Outliers	15	7	14	-0.48
4Mavericks	14	6	12	-0.47

Full scorecards

M1NeuroStrikers 34/5 v Mavericks 28/3NeuroStrikers won by 6 runs

NeuroStrikers

34/5 (7)

Batter	R	B	4s	SR
Rahul Kasliwal run out (Lakshya Sharma / Ankit Jain)	10	11	2	91
Sagar c †Rahul Rathore b Harish Jangid	4	4	1	100
Kunwar Gaurav b Jaivardhan Pathak	0	4	0	0
Anil Rawat c Harish Jangid b Jaivardhan Pathak	2	8	0	25
Vikas c Abhijeet Singh Shekhawat b Jaivardhan Pathak	8	12	1	67
Saurabh Charan not out	4*	3	1	133
Sunil Rajput not out	0*	0	0	–

6 extras·Fall of wickets: 14-1 (Sagar, 1.4), 15-2 (Rahul Kasliwal, 2.5), 18-3 (Kunwar Gaurav, 4.1), 21-4 (Anil Rawat, 5.0), 30-5 (Vikas, 6.4)

Bowler	O	R	W	Econ
Ankit Jain	2	11	0	5.50
Harish Jangid	2	6	1	3.00
Jaivardhan Pathak	2	10	3	5.00
Abhijeet Singh Shekhawat	1	7	0	7.00

Mavericks

28/3 (7)

Batter	R	B	4s	SR
Rahul Rathore c †Kunwar Gaurav b Sagar	10	12	2	83
Pankaj Tanwar retired out	6	13	0	46
Harish Jangid c Vikas b Anil Rawat	7	11	1	64
Jaivardhan Pathak c Rahul Kasliwal b Anil Rawat	4	5	0	80
Ankit Jain not out	1*	1	0	100

0 extras·Fall of wickets: 12-1 (Rahul Rathore, 2.5), 20-1 (Pankaj Tanwar, 5.0), 25-2 (Jaivardhan Pathak, 6.2), 28-3 (Harish Jangid, 7.0)

Bowler	O	R	W	Econ
Vikas	2	9	0	4.50
Saurabh Charan	2	7	0	3.50
Sagar	2	9	1	4.50
Anil Rawat	1	3	2	3.00

M2Outliers 35/3 v Vikings 30/4The Outliers won by 5 runs

The Outliers

35/3 (7)

Batter	R	B	6s	SR
Nitin Setia b Nishant Gupta	1	7	0	14
Naman Saini c Bhairav Deep b Nishant Gupta	9	11	1	82
Madhav Sharma c Bhairav Deep b Nishant Gupta	1	6	0	17
Rudraksh not out	4*	8	0	50
Siddharth Rao not out	13*	11	1	118

7 extras·Fall of wickets: 14-1 (Nitin Setia, 1.1), 18-2 (Madhav Sharma, 3.4), 19-3 (Naman Saini, 4.0)

Bowler	O	R	W	Econ
Bhaskar Rathore	2	20	0	10.00
Nishant Gupta	2	3	3	1.50
Mahesh Kumar	2	4	0	2.00
Opal	1	8	0	8.00

Vikings

30/4 (7)

Batter	R	B	SR
Bhairav Deep c Siddharth Rao b Naman Saini	7	11	64
Mahesh Kumar c Rudraksh b Madhav Sharma	0	1	0
Bhaskar Rathore c †Nitin Setia b Siddharth Rao	7	6	117
Nishant Gupta run out (Krishna Saxena / Naman Saini)	5	11	45
Chaitanya Saran not out	4*	8	50
Opal not out	4*	5	80

3 extras·Fall of wickets: 8-1 (Mahesh Kumar, 1.1), 14-2 (Bhairav Deep, 2.3), 18-3 (Bhaskar Rathore, 3.3), 25-4 (Nishant Gupta, 5.4)

Bowler	O	R	W	Econ
Siddharth Rao	2	12	1	6.00
Madhav Sharma	2	9	1	4.50
Naman Saini	2	4	1	2.00
Rudraksh	1	5	0	5.00

M3Outliers 47/4 v Mavericks 48/0Mavericks won by 7 wickets (3 balls left)

The Outliers

47/4 (7)

Batter	R	B	4s	6s	SR
Nitin Setia run out (Abhijeet Singh Shekhawat)	1	3	0	0	33
Naman Saini b Abhijeet Singh Shekhawat	30	15	1	4	200
Madhav Sharma c Harish Jangid b Jaivardhan Pathak	1	9	0	0	11
Siddharth Rao c Lakshya Sharma b Jaivardhan Pathak	6	7	0	1	86
Krishna Saxena not out	4*	8	0	0	50
Rudraksh not out	0*	0	0	0	–

5 extras·Fall of wickets: 3-1 (Nitin Setia, 1.2), 33-2 (Madhav Sharma, 4.2), 42-3 (Naman Saini, 5.1), 45-4 (Siddharth Rao, 6.3)

Bowler	O	R	W	Econ
Ankit Jain	2	4	0	2.00
Harish Jangid	2	29	0	14.50
Jaivardhan Pathak	2	11	2	5.50
Abhijeet Singh Shekhawat	1	3	1	3.00

Mavericks

48/0 (6.3)

Batter	R	B	4s	6s	SR
Harish Jangid not out	42*	25	2	4	168
Rahul Rathore not out	5*	15	0	0	33

1 extras

Bowler	O	M	R	Econ
Siddharth Rao	2	0	7	3.50
Madhav Sharma	2	0	19	9.50
Naman Saini	2	1	13	6.50
Krishna Saxena	0.3	0	9	18.00

M4NeuroStrikers 87/1 v Vikings 47/5NeuroStrikers won by 40 runs

NeuroStrikers

87/1 (7)

Batter	R	B	4s	6s	SR
Saurabh Charan not out	42*	26	3	2	162
Anil Rawat c Bhaskar Rathore b Bhairav Deep	34	14	1	4	243
Sagar not out	1*	2	0	0	50

10 extras·Fall of wickets: 77-1 (Anil Rawat, 6.2)

Bowler	O	R	W	Econ
Bhaskar Rathore	2	34	0	17.00
Nishant Gupta	2	19	0	9.50
Mahesh Kumar	2	23	0	11.50
Bhairav Deep	1	11	1	11.00

Vikings

47/5 (7)

Batter	R	B	4s	6s	SR
Mahesh Kumar c Sagar b Anil Rawat	17	25	1	0	68
Bhairav Deep b Sagar	19	11	1	2	173
Bhaskar Rathore st †Kunwar Gaurav b Sagar	0	2	0	0	0
Nishant Gupta run out (Kunwar Gaurav)	4	2	1	0	200
Chaitanya Saran not out	0*	1	0	0	0
Opal c Rahul Kasliwal b Anil Rawat	0	2	0	0	0

7 extras·Fall of wickets: 40-1 (Bhairav Deep, 5.2), 40-2 (Bhaskar Rathore, 5.4), 47-3 (Mahesh Kumar, 6.3), 47-4 (Nishant Gupta, 6.4), 47-5 (Opal, 7.0)

Bowler	O	R	W	Econ
Vikas	2	7	0	3.50
Saurabh Charan	2	12	0	6.00
Sagar	2	26	2	13.00
Anil Rawat	1	2	2	2.00

7 overs a side