Mansur Ali Khan essayed that blow as Brigadiers escaped with a one-wicket win in a Mantri KPL match at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on Friday.

Electing to bat, Mangalore made a paltry 118, and Brigadiers huffed and puffed past the target with just three balls remaining. With such a low total to chase, there was expectations of Robin Uthappa bringing an early end to the match. But he did not exploit a life received on four, falling off the very next ball.

His dismissal saw the Brigadiers batsmen plunging into a state of panic, throwing their wickets away in all manners possible. But their indecision in running between the wickets was the most glaring as four batsmen – including skipper Deepak Chougule – were caught short of the crease.

Brigadiers should be thankful to man-of-the-match David Mathias as the hard-hitting all-rounder made a quick 30 (19b, 2x6, 1x4) to turn the game around for them.
Earlier, Mangalore’s hopes of posting a formidable total were pinned on skipper Bharath Chipli, and the right-hander raised visions of a blitz when he and Karun Nair added 38 for the opening wicket.

But Mangalore’s joy did not last long as Chipli departed for 19. Jonathan Rongsen and Vijay Chavan played a few shots during their cameos to lead them to a total that they nearly defended.

SCORE BOARD

Mangalore United: Karun Nair c Rahul b Mathias 15; Bharath Chipli c&b Dileep 19; SN Ameet (run out) 0; Jonathan Rongsen b Vinu Prasad 24; Rohit Sabarwal c Dileep b Vinu Prasad 15; Vijay Chavan lbw M Vinod 21; Udit Patel c Mathias b Mansur 8; Azgar Pasha (not out) 5; S Arvind (run out) 1;  H Venkatesh c Mathias b Uthappa 0; Sinan Abdul Qadir c S Kirmani b Mansur 1; Extras (LB-6, W-3) 9; Total (all out, 19.3 overs) 118
Fall of wickets: 1-38, 2-38, 3-47, 4-78, 5-83, 6-104, 7-111, 8-116, 9-118.
Bowling: M Khan 3.3-0-22-2, Vinu Prasad 4-0-19-2, Vinod 4-0-26-1, Sagar 2-0-4-1, D Mathias 1-0-10-1, D Chougule 1-0-9-0, R Uthappa 4-0-22-1.
Bangalore Brigadiers: KL Rahul c Chavan b Arvind 1; Robin Uthappa c Chavan b Venkatesh 5; S Vinod c Karun b Pasha 13; M Vinod c Chipli b Udit 0; Deepak Chougoule (run out) 6; Steve Lazarus c Pasha b Abdul Qadir 16; David Mathias (run out) 30; Vinu Prasad (run out) 13; Sadiq Kirmani (not out) 17; Dileep Sagar c Chipli b Arvind 6; Mansur (not out) 6; Extras (W-6) 6; Total (for 9 wkts, 19.3 overs) 119.
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-13, 3-13, 4-27, 5-33, 6-53, 7-78, 8-98, 9-112.
Bowling: S Arvind 4-0-13-2, H Venkatesh 3.1-0-16-1, Udit Patel 4-0-22-1, Azgar Pasha 2.5-0-17-1, Karun Nair 2-0-20-0, Sinan Abdul Qadir 3-0-26-1, Bharath Chipli 3-0-5-0.