Noida, Aug 14 (IANS) Noida Kings have appointed experienced Uttar Pradesh batter Madhav Kaushik as their captain for the fourth edition of the UP T20 League, as the franchise looks to mount a strong challenge for the title in the upcoming season.

Madhav, who joined Noida Kings from the 2024 Meerut Mavericks, brings with him considerable experience in the UP T20 League as well as Uttar Pradesh’s domestic cricket structure. His appointment also gives the Kings a leader who has already handled captaincy responsibilities in the competition, having led Meerut Mavericks to the title in 2024 and also to the finals in the 2025 edition.

Madhav has been one of the consistent performers since the UP T20 League’s inaugural season in 2023. In the first two editions, he accumulated 716 runs, scoring 350 runs in 2023 and improving that tally to 366 runs in 2024. His 2024 campaign saw him finish among the leading run-scorers in the tournament, with 366 runs in 12 matches at an average of 61 and a strike rate of 146.99, including three half-centuries.

In the 2025 season, Madhav scored 286 runs in 13 matches at an average of 31.78 and a strike rate of 139.51, with one half-century. His highest score was an explosive 95 off just 31 balls, an innings that included 10 fours and seven sixes and came at a strike rate of 306.45. Across the first three editions of the competition, Kaushik has therefore amassed 1,002 runs, making him one of the league’s most experienced and productive batters.

Beyond the T20 format, Madhav has established himself as a dependable top-order batter for Uttar Pradesh in first-class cricket. He has played 28 first-class matches, scoring 1,441 runs in 41 innings at an average of 37.92, with four centuries and five fifties. His highest first-class score is 185 not out against Nagaland in the 2025-26 season.

In the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy season, he scored 351 runs in eight innings at an average of 50.14, including his career-best 185, ending the season as the top run-getter for Uttar Pradesh.

Madhav was selected in the India Under-23 squad for the five-match one-day series against Bangladesh Under-23 in 2019, alongside players such as Priyam Garg, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Arshdeep Singh and Kartik Tyagi. The Noida Kings will now look to Kaushik’s batting and leadership as they seek to make a deeper impact in the fourth season of the UP T20 League, which gets underway on August 14.

The fourth edition of the UP T20 League will begin on August 14, 2026, with the tournament scheduled to run until September 6. The season will feature 34 matches over 24 days, with matches being played at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow and Green Park Stadium in Kanpur. Six teams will compete for the title, with Noida Kings aiming to improve on their previous campaigns.

–IANS

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