Maharaajas post first win

Cricket: Mantri Karnataka Premier League: Sudhir hits 41 to carry Mysore throug

The toss apart, precious little went right for the Diamonds, who batted with neither purpose nor application at the Chinnaswamy stadium on Tuesday evening.

A total of 112 for nine was woefully below par and not enough to test even the hitherto shaky Maharaajas batting. With openers KB Pawan and HT Sudhir Rao realising 56, the Mysore outfit cruised to 115 for four with nine deliveries in the bag.

 Sunil Joshi’s designs of attacking with a sizeable target were foiled right at the beginning when the Diamonds innings got off to a disastrous start.

Mayank Agarwal and Rakshan Rai were dismissed inside the first four overs as the innings failed to gather any momentum worth the name. Indeed, had it not been for reasonable enterprise shown by the left-handed Pawan Deshpande, and a late flourish from Joshi himself – who surely ought to bat higher than number eight – the Diamonds would have been hard pressed to touch three figures.

 The Maharaajas didn’t do anything extraordinary with the ball or in the field – never mind the three run-outs, only one of which was earned through a direct hit when Sudhir plucked out the stumps from point to get rid of Rai – but then again, they didn’t need to. Left-arm spinner C Raghavendra finished with enviable figures of 3-1-11-2 and the other slow bowlers chipped in as well so that by the interval, the Maharaajas were well on course for their maiden triumph.

Sudhir, with characteristic brazen aggression, and a far more circumspect Pawan got them off to just the start they required, Diamonds continuing to dig a deep hole for themselves. Pawan was put down by substitute M Abhilash off P Maghizhendan at mid-on when just seven, a lapse the Diamonds could ill afford.

 By the time left-arm spinner Prasanna Patil, cleverly taking pace off the ball and forcing the batsmen to generate their own pace, got rid of Pawan, 56 (55b) had been raised.

Sudhir too fell to Patil’s guiles, losing fluency after his opening partner’s dismissal, but he had more than done his job with an attractive 41 (38b, 4x4, 2x6).

 Strapping paceman AV Raghavendra Rao picked up two late wickets to somewhat soften the blow, but no more, as the Diamonds slipped to their third defeat in four matches.

SCORE BOARD

SD DIAMONDS: Mayank Agarwal c Pawan b William 8, CM Gautam b Raghavendra 5, Rakshan Rai (run out) 4, Pawan Deshpande st Bhille b Kazi 29, Sunil Raju b Raghavendra 4, Yere Goud c & b Manjunath 11, M Nidish (run out) 17, Sunil Joshi (run out) 23, P Maghizhendan c William b Raghu 0, Prasanna Patil (not out) 7. Extras (B-1, W-3) 4. Total (for 9 wkts, 20 overs) 112.

Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-15, 3-24, 4-30, 5-56, 6-66, 7-94, 8-95, 9-112.
Bowling: Aditya Sagar 4-0-30-0, Chetan William 2-0-7-1, B Rajashekar 3-0-16-0, C Raghavendra 3-1-11-2, C Raghu 3-0-12-1, SP Manjunath 3-0-16-1, Abrar Kazi 2-0-19-1.

MYSORE MAHARAAJAS: KB Pawan c Gautam b Patil 19, HT Sudhir Rao c Maghizhendan b Patil 41, Abrar Kazi c Goud b Raghavendra 28, C Raghu c Rai b Raghavendra 14, Chetan William (not out) 2, SP Manjunath (not out) 9. Extras (W-2) 2. Total (for 4 wkts, 18.3 overs) 115.
Fall of wickets: 1-56, 2-80, 3-101, 4-106.

Bowling: AV Raghavendra Rao 4-0-30-2, P Maghizhendan 3.3-0-23-0, Sunil Joshi 4-0-21-0, Prasanna Patil 4-0-20-2, Sunil Raju 3-0-21-0.