In a bid to score their first win of Mantri KPL II, the Brigadiers made quite a few changes to their personnel but in the end, they proved nothing more than cosmetic as Malnad Gladiators inflicted a 21-run defeat in a rain-shortened match.

Put in by Brigadiers’ new skipper Robin Uthappa, Gladiators were 29 for three from three overs when rains cried a halt to the proceedings.

After a 74-minute stoppage, the match was reduced to 13 overs a side, and the Gladiators finished on 109 for four. After applying the VJD method, the revised target for Brigadiers was 111 but the Bangalore side were rolled over for only 89 at the Chinnaswamy stadium on Monday.

With this win, Gladiators completed their league engagements with eight points but their chances of moving into the semifinals depend on the outcome of matches on Tuesday, when the league phase concludes. For the Brigadiers, it was their fifth loss from six matches. 

Uthappa, back from a forgettable Champions League campaign, replaced regular skipper Deepak Chougule at the helm. The move, however, made little difference to the Brigadiers’ fortunes, the 24-year-old being dismissed reverse-sweeping left-arm spinner SK Moinuddin at the most inopportune time.

The target was challenging but the Brigadiers showed little stomach for fight. Batsman after batsman played casual, careless shots with their skipper leading from the front.
That extras (29) accounted for the most runs indicated the batting ineptitude of the Brigadiers. K Gowtham, man of the match for figures of 3-0-16-4, made the most as Brigadiers went after the off-spinner without much success. After B Akhil came up with a useful performance for Provident Bangalore on Sunday, it didn’t turn out to be a good day for two other CL T20 returnees.

While Uthappa capped off his batting failure with a losing misery, Gladiators’ paceman Abhimanyu Mithun struggled to come to terms with the pink ball, sending down as many as eight wides in his two overs to go with three no-balls.   

Gladiators were provided a good start by Kunal Kapoor (21, 19b, 3x4) and Sanjay Kumar, who strung 52 runs at the top either side of the rain-break. Raju Bhatkal 27 (22b, 4x4) and skipper Ganesh Satish (26, 14b, 2x4, 2x6) built on the good work by their openers to steer Gladiators to a winning total on a day when Brigadiers’ out-cricket went to pieces.

SCOREBOARD

MALNAD GLADIATORS: Kunal Kapoor c Abhinav b Ananth 21, Sanjay Kumar st Uthappa b Ananth 17, Raju Bhatkal (not out) 27, Ganesh Satish c Uthappa b Faroqui 26, A Mithun (run out) 1, K Gowtham (not out) 0. Extras (B-1, LB-1, W-15) 17. Total (for 4 wkts, 13 overs) 109.

Fall of wickets: 1-52 (Sanjay), 2-53 (Kapoor), 3-100 (Ganesh), 4-103 (Mithun). Bowling: Zahoor Faroqui 3-0-21-1 (w-8), Sharath HS 3-0-35-0 (w-7), TK Ananth 3-0-6-2, M Vinod 2-0-25-0, Steve Lazarus 2-0-20-0.

BANGALORE BRIGADIERS: Samarth R b Gowtham 19, Deepak Chougule c Avinash b Rohan 1, Abhinav Kumar c Moinuddin b Rohan 0, Robin Uthappa c Wagle b Moinuddin 5, Sadiq Kirmani c Avinash b Bhatkal 5, Nikhil Kashyap st Avinash b Moinuddin 17, Vinod M c Bhatkal b Gowtham 7, Steve Lazarus c Rohan b Gowtham 2, TK Ananth c Wagle b Gowtham 1, Zahoor Faroqui (run out) 2, Sharath HS (not out) 1. Extras (B-4, LB-4, NB-3, W-18) 29. Total (all out, 12 overs) 89.

Fall of wickets: 1-15 (Chougule), 2-15 (Abhinav), 3-21 (Uthappa), 4-36 (Samarth), 5-38 (Kirmani), 6-51 (Vinod), 7-59 (Lazarus), 8-72 (Ananth), 9-81 (Faroqui). 

Bowling: A Mithun 2-0-20-0 (w-8, nb-3), KP Rohan 2-0-15-2 (w-2), SK Moiunddin 3-0-13-2 (w-1), Raju Bhatkal 2-0-17-1 (w-1), K Gowtham 3-0-16-4.