Kadam, Verma steer Tuskers

Defending champs Bijapur Bulls trounce hapless Rockstars

Rohan Kadam slammed a half-century while Amit Verma played a fine cameo to guide Bellary Tuskers to a five-wicket victory over Belagavi Panthers in a rain truncated match of the fifth Karbonn Karnataka Premier League here on Monday.

The Panthers, electing to bat first, posted 138 for eight in their 20 overs. Despite a couple of initial hiccups, Bellary coasted to a revised target of 129 with seven balls to spare.

A rare failure from the in-form Mayank Agarwal put the Tuskers on the backfoot straight away. Agarwal was castled on the third ball of the innings by a beautiful delivery from pacer Prasidh Krishna.

The Tuskers’ precise bowling and good field placements by skipper Verma put the stranglehold on Panthers, who in the process of upping the run-rate, lost Anurag Bajpai plumb before wicket to B Akhil, with the score reading 29 for two.

Panthers would have been in deep trouble but for the 50-run third wicket partnership between Mir Kaunian Abbas and Shoaib Manager.

However, even as the two were settling down, Manager (32), dropped earlier by Steve Lazarus, did not last long and held out to Kadam off the bowling of Akhil.

Abbas followed Manager, caught by KB Pawan, giving Prasidh his second wicket, but not before compiling a well-made 52 of 44 balls, studded with five fours. At the end of the first innings, the Panthers could manage only 138, leaving Bellary with a tricky chase.

The showers intervened, restricting play for 37 minutes and Bellary’s target was revised to 129 off 18 overs.

Tuskers too endured a poor start, losing Pawan for seven while Karthik CA went a few overs later with the scoreboard reading 48 for two after 7 overs.

However, a fruitful 53-run partnership for the third wicket between opener Kadam and Verma stabilised the innings and put Bellary in the driver’s seat.

Big win for Bulls
In the second match of the day, champions Bijapur Bulls overwhelmed Rockstars by 68 runs.

Man of the match Naveen slammed 52 (33b, 3x6, 2x4) while opener Bharath Chipli made 32 from 27 balls (1x6, 3x4) as the Bulls coasted to 175 for 8 in the allotted 20 overs.

In reply Rockstars were bundled out for 107 in 20 overs. Sinan Abdul Khader (3/18) was the most successful bowler for Bulls. After a rest day on Tuesday, the tournament will resume on Wednesday.

Brief scores: Belagavi Panthers: 138/8 in 20 overs (Mir Kaunan Abbas 52, Shoaib Manager 32; Prateek Jain 3-33, B Akhil 2-19, Prasidh Krishna 2-26) lt to Bellary Tuskers: 129/5 in 16.5 overs (Rohan Kadam 53, Amit Verma 30; Pradeep T 2-13).
Bijapur Bulls: 175/8 in 20 overs (Bharat Chipli 32, Naveen MG 52; Raju Gowda 3-24, Teja 2-22) bt Rockstars: 107 all out in 20 overs (Teja 28; Arshdeep Singh 2-19, Sinar Khadir 3-18).