Gowtham shines in Spartons' triumph

Sachin Gowtham’s eight-wicket haul for the match powered Spartons Sports Club to title win in the Dell-KSCA Group I, Division V league for the JB Mallaradhya Trophy here.

In a low-scoring final, Spartons SC, despite conceding a narrow six-run lead in the first innings, coasted to a comfortable six-wicket win after bowling out Shanthinagar Cricketers for a modest total in the second essay. Sachin, who had claimed three for 31 in the first innings, did the star turn for the winners, returning impressive figures of five for 39 to set up Spartons win.

Batting first, Shanthinagar posted a decent 210 all out in 55 overs in their first essay but their effort in the second innings was their undoing as they were packed off for a miserly 119 in 27.5 overs with Sachin doing bulk of the damage.

Needing 126 for victory, Spartons did just that -- 126/4 in 23.2 overs -- to emerge champions. Laxman, who had top-scored in the first essay with 54, once again chipped in with the highest score of innings (49) to lead the successful chase.     

Brief scores: Shanthinagar Cricketers: 210 all out in 55 overs (Mohsin 35, Mahesh 56, AG Deepak 66; Suresh Shinde 4-63, Sachin Gowtham 3-31) and 119 all out in 27.5 overs (Mohisin 37; Suresh Shinde 3-46, Sachin Gowtham 5-39) lt to Spartons Sports Club: 204 all out in 53.2 overs (Laxman 54, BH Jaganath 53; Alok 2-37, Sudeep Reddy 2-63, Ashish 3-58, AG Deepak 3-33) and 126/4 in 23.2 overs (Sham Deshmukh 26, Laxman 49 n.o., Manish Kadega 37; Ashish 2-36).