Who is Rushil Ugarkar? 5 interesting facts about MI New York seamer who delivered a match-winning 20th over in WF vs MINY MLC 2025 final

Rushil Ugarkar has become the talk of the town after winning the Player of the Match award in the Major League Cricket (MLC) 2025 Final. The youngster helped MI New York become champions for the second time in the T20 competition. His excellent death bowling ensured MINY won against Washington Freedom in the final played on July 13.

The pressure was immense on Ugarkar because he had to defend 12 runs off the last over. Two reputed international big-hitters, Glenn Maxwell and Glenn Phillips, were in the middle for the Washington-based franchise.

Rushil Ugarkar kept his nerve and conceded just two runs off the first three balls before dismissing Maxwell caught out on the fourth ball. New batter Obus Piennar could not score any runs on the fifth ball. While Piennar managed a boundary on the last ball, MINY won the match by five runs.

In this listicle now, we will look at five interesting things to know about the MLC 2025 Final's Player of the Match award-winner.

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#1 Rushil Ugarkar was born in St Louis, Missouri

While some cricket fans might have thought that Rushil was born in India and then moved to the USA, the same isn't true. His name suggests that his family is of Indian origin, but he was born in St Louis, Missouri.

Ugarkar celebrated his 22nd birthday two weeks ago on June 30. At the time of writing, he is 22 years and 14 days old.

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#2 MI New York backed him even though he went wicketless in MLC 2024

The one thing the MI franchise do brilliantly across T20 leagues is talent scouting. Mumbai Indians have unearthed many new Indian talents in IPL, and now MI New York have unearthed this gem of a talent in America.

Rushil made his MLC debut last year, but he remained wicketless in both the games he played. Still, MINY kept him in their squad, and in the big final against Washington Freedom, the right-arm fast bowler dismissed Glenn Maxwell and Rachin Ravindra.

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#3 Ugarkar scalped a total of 7 wickets in 3 knockout matches of MLC 2025

Ugarkar bowled the crucial final over in the MLC 2025 Final for MI New York and also took two important wickets in the game. Before that, in the Qualifier 2 against Texas Super Kings, he dismissed Marcus Stoinis and Saiteja Mukkamalla to end with figures of 2/31 in four overs.

Also, in the Eliminator against San Francisco Unicorns, Rushil Ugarkar bagged the wickets of Liam Plunkett, Hammad Azam and Brody Couch to end with match-winning figures of 3/19 in just 3.1 overs.

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#4 MI called Rushil Ugarkar to Mumbai during IPL last year

As mentioned earlier, the Mumbai Indians management always tries to unearth new talents. In April 2024, when Rushil had not even played in Major League Cricket, he was called to India by the MI management.

Rushil worked hard in the nets, spending time with the top IPL stars. He even travelled with the Mumbai Indians to other cities for some away matches.

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#5 Rushil Ugarkar began his professional cricket career in Bengaluru

While Rushil was born in St Louis, his professional cricketing journey began in Bengaluru at the National Cricket Academy. He trained in Bengaluru for a few years before moving back to the USA, where he joined Minor League Cricket in 2021.

Three years later, he found himself in the MI New York squad, and helped them win their second MLC trophy.