United wear crown after super win

Cricket: KPL II: Provident collapse in a heap in tense title clash

Provident Bangalore appeared all set to retain the title they had won last year when, after winning the toss, they inserted the opposition and restricted them to 112 for nine.

Their cause appeared even stronger when, through the experience of Thilak Naidu (22, 34b, 1x4) on a slow surface -- the pitch was different from the ones on which two high-scoring semifinals were played earlier in the day -- they had reached 37 for one, when a dramatic collapse triggered by Udit Patel and completed by Nair culminated in the holders being shot out for 68, leaving United victors by a massive margin of 44 runs in a final that, in toto, produced only 180 runs!

On the strip used for the final, the ball stopped on the batsmen, offered dual bounce to the bowlers and infused an element of doubt as batsmen from both teams seemed unsure of what tactics to employ, and Patel and man of the final Nair benefited the most, both offies finishing with four wickets apiece.

From a healthy 37 for one, Provident lost their last nine wickets for 31, a spectacular collapse that gift-wrapped the title to United.

The United innings was a stop-start affair with both momentum and partnerships conspicuous by their absence. The men who had served them so brilliantly in the afternoon, Sabharwall and Bharath Chipli, together made just 16, and only two men topped 20. Nair was the highest scorer with 21 and N Nidhuvan consumed 26 deliveries for his 20, but there was little else the rest did as the Provident bowlers stuck to their disciplines with aplomb.

No one bowler was the star, though going sheerly by the figures, left-arm spinner Sarfaraz Ashraf (4-0-15-1) was the stand-out performer. United ran themselves to their doom, stumper Naidu coming up with two direct hits, but in the end, they had the runs on the board and Provident didn’t have the wherewithal to chase them down.

Mayank Agarwal of Shamanur Davangere Diamonds, the lone centurion of KPL II, was declared the Player of the tournament and took home a Mahindra Xylo.

SCOREBOARD

MANGALORE UNITED: Rohit Sabharwall b Jagan 10, Bharath Chipli lbw Katti 6, Nidhuvan c Joshi b Shetty 20, R Jonathan c&b Ashraf 16, Karun Nair c Verma b Jagan 21, Daniel Sequeria st Naidu b Shetty 8, Vijay Chavan (not out) 13, Udit Patel (run out) 4, Asgar Pasha (run out) 1, Arvind S (run out) 1, Md Aleem (not out) 1. Extras (LB-6, W-4, NB-1). Total (for 9 wkts, 20 overs) 112.

Fall of wickets: 1-14 (Sabharwall), 2-25 (Chipli), 3-50 (Jonathan), 4-69 (Nidhuvan), 5-89 (Nair), 6-93 (Sequeria), 7-102 (Chavan), 8-107 (Pasha), 9-109 (Arvind).

Bowling: Abhishek Jagan 3-0-21-2 (w-3, nb-1), Anand Katti 4-0-24-1, Sarfaraz Ashraf 4-0-15-1, B Akhil 4-0-19-0, Arjun Shetty 4-0-20-2 (w-1), Anirudh Joshi 1-0-7-0.
PROVIDENT BANGALORE: MK Manjunath b Arvind 14, Thilak Naidu c Sequiera b Nair 22, Amit Verma c Chipli b Patel 2, B Akhil lbw Patel 7, Sunil Kumar Jain c Pasha b Nair 1, Aniruddha Joshi st Sabharwall b Patel 2, Rahul Bhatkal c Chipli b Nair 1, Sarfaraz Ashraf c Nair b Patel 4, Anand Katti st Sabharwall b Nair 2, Abhishek Jagan lbw Sequeria 5, Arjun Shetty (not out) 3. Extras (W-5) 5. Total (all out, 16.1 overs) 68.

Fall of wickets: 1-32 (Manjunath), 2-37 (Verma), 3-45 (Akhil), 4-48 (Jain), 5-50 (Joshi), 6-51 (Bhatkal), 7-56 (Ashraf), 8-60 (Naidu), 9-64 (Katti).

Bowling: S Arvind 2-0-10-1 (w-4), Md Aleem 3-0-21-0, Daniel Sequiera 3.1-0-13-1 (w-1), Udit Patel 4-0-11-4, Karun Nair 4-0-13-4.