Given the position KSCA XI were in at the close of play on the opening day, one wouldn’t have imagined the scenes that unfolded at the M Chinnaswamy stadium here on Saturday.
First, the CM Gautam-led side bore witness to a well calculated innings by DY Patil Academy’s Yogesh Takawale (110) as the visitors surged to a 123-run lead in the first innings. Later, the hosts fell prey to quality spin bowling by Iqbal Abdullla (5/39) and Swapnil Singh (4/44), folding up for a mere 92 all out in their second essay as the Mumbai side recorded a convincing innings and 31 runs win to clinch the Dr (Capt) K Thimmappiah memorial all-India invitational tournament title.
Sent into bat just before tea, the KSCA openers were in trouble from the word go, as Abdullla and Swapnil extracted generous turn and bounce from the track to keep the batsmen at bay. It was not long before the Swapnil was rewarded for his patience.
He invited Abhishek Reddy to drive his flighted delivery in the sixth over but the 20-year-old failed to connect well as the ball went on to rattle his woodwork.
From 10/1, the UP bowler soon made it 22/3 dismissing J Suchith (2) and captain Gautam (2) in quick succession.
However, it was the left-arm spinner Abdullla who stole the limelight maintaining a healthy line and length.
Opener R Samarth (14) was the first one to fall for his deceptive balling, presenting a regulation catch to Shoaib Shaikh at first slip. This was Abdullla’s first ball of the innings.
Shreyas Gopal soon followed the suit after missing a length ball that rattled his stumps as did Dinesh Borwankar who handed ’keeper Takawale a simple catch.
Though Vinay Kumar and S Arvind showed some resilience to take the fight to the opposition with a series of attacking stroke play, Abdulla struck again late in the day to mop up the tail.
No stopping Takawale
Though KSCA XI began the second day with a slender advantage, all the hard work was put to rest after the first hour of play as Takawale dug deep to craft a splendid century to help his side regain control of the game.
The Maharashtra batsman hit 12 fours and four sixes to bring up his 110 before Arvind sent him back to the hut in the 56th over.
Brief score: KSCA XI: 184 all out and 92 all out (Vinay Kumar 25 n.o., S Arvind 24; Iqbal Abdullla 5-39, Swapnil Singh 3-44) lt DY Patil Academy (O/n: 64/4): 307 all out (Shubham Ranjane 44, Yogesh Takawale 110, Iqbal Abdulla 34, Vinay Kumar 2-44, S Arvind 2-54).
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