JOIN USSunil Joshi’s men, beaten in their opening encounter of the tournament, have remained unbeaten since. Their fifth win, a six-wicket triumph at the Chinnaswamy stadium on Tuesday, cemented their status as league toppers with 11 points, while the Maharaajas bowed out with just six points to their name.
Desperately needing to win to stay alive, the Maharajaas – who rejigged their batting line-up -- began fluently through C Raghu (25, 17b, 3x4, 1x6) upon being put in but lost the plot after the first five overs when they raced to 39, tied down by the left-arm spin of Sunil Joshi and Prasanna Patil to settle for a measly 122 for nine.
It was a total that was never going to faze the Diamonds who, two nights back, scaled down 175 for victory against Bijapur Bulls. The classy Mayank Agarwal (27, 24b, 1x4, 2x6) got them off to a brilliant start and his left-handed opening partner Deshpande (51 n.o., 52b, 3x4, 1x6), the man of the match, batted through the innings as victory was raised with seven deliveries to spare with a towering six by V Bharath Kumar, the Diamonds finishing on 124 for four.
SCOREBOARD
MYSORE MAHARAAJAS: C Raghu c Bharath Kumar b Rajesh 25, HT Sudhir Rao c Nidish b Girish 5, Nithin Bille b Rajesh 1, Chetan William (not out) 37, Shoaib Manager c Gautam b Joshi 8, Abrar Kazi (run out) 1, KB Pawan c BN Bharath b Patil 11, SP Manjunath c Patil b BN Bharath 2, Aditya Sagar b Joshi 20, C Raghavendra (run out) 0, Tarun Muthanna (not out) 0. Extras (LB-4, NB-1, W-7) 12. Total (for 9 wkts, 20 overs) 122.
Fall of wickets: 1-36 (Sudhir), 2-37 (Raghu), 3-38 (Bille), 4-52 (Manager), 5-53 (Kazi), 6-75 (Pawan), 7-82 (Manjunath), 8-117 (Sagar), 9-119 (Raghavendra).
Bowling: BN Bharath 4-0-30-1 (w-3), Girish M 3-0-21-1 (w-3), DC Rajesh 4-0-30-2 (w-1), Sunil Joshi 4-0-17-2, Bharath Kumar V 1-0-4-0, Prasanna Patil 4-0-16-1.
SHAMANUR DAVANGERE DIAMONDS: Mayank Agarwal c Manager b Raghavendra 27, Pavan Deshpande (not out) 51, M Nidish c Sudhir Rao b Raghavendra 6, Yere Goud st Bille b Raghu 7, BN Bharath c Pawan b Muthanna 14, Bharath Kumar V (not out) 7. Extras (LB-2, W-10) 12. Total (for 4 wkts, 18.5 overs) 124.
Fall of wickets: 1-49 (Agarwal), 2-66 (Nidish), 3-88 (Goud), 4-116 (Bharath).
Bowling: C Raghu 4-0-25-1, C Raghavendra 4-1-19-2 (w-5), Aditya Sagar 3-0-17-0 (w-1), Abrar Kazi 3-0-22-0 (w-2), Tarun Muthanna 2.5-0-18-1, Chetan William 1-0-10-0 (w-1), SP Manjunath 1-0-11-0 (w-1).