Joshi strikes half-century as Vultures CC triumph

Anirudha Joshi struck a blistering half-century as Vultures Cricket Club beat Friends Union Cricket Club by two wickets in the final to emerge champions of the KSCA Twenty20 cricket tournament here under lights at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on Monday.

Batting first, Friends Union CC rode on good knocks from Stalin Hoover (75) and Srikrishna (62) to post a competitive 184/4 in 20 overs. Ronit More took four wickets (4/26) for Vultures CC.

Joshi then led the reply for Vultures with 89 runs off 44 balls, including ten fours and four sixes, as they reached the target (185/8) with three balls to spare. Hoover claimed four wickets for Friends Union CC.

In the semifinals, Vultures  riding on half-centuries from Prateeksh R (66 n.o.) and Nitin Bhilee, (56) drubbed Jawans Cricket Club by eight wickets while Friends Union thumped Swastic Union (1) by 10 wickets.

Brief scores: final: Friends Union Cricket Club: 184/8 in 20 overs (Srikrishna 62, Stalin Hoover 75; Ronit A More 4-26) lt to Vultures Cricket Club: 185/8 in 19.3 overs (Anirudh A Joshi 89; Stalin Hoover 4-15)

Semifinals: Swastic Union Cricket Club (1): 93 all out in 18.4 overs (Nitish PD 3-23, Lokith Bannur 3-10) lt to Friends Union Cricket Club: 94 for no loss in 13.2 overs (Vinay N Sagar 57 n.o., Sri Krishna 37 n.o.)

Jawans Cricket Club: 141/5 in 20 overs (Md Taha 26, Dikshanshu Negi 52, Abhinav Manohar 40; HS Sharath 3-26) lt to Vultures Cricket Club: 144/2 in 18.3 overs (Prateeksh R 66 n.o., Nitin Bhilee 56)