Panthers ease past Diamonds

Pandeys half-century helps his team to stay on course for semis

 
A wet outfield forced the match into a 17-over-a-side and Panthers restricted Diamonds, asked to bat first, to 119 for nine. With an impressive batting line-up at their disposal, the target was not going to stretch Panthers and they reached there with plenty to spare.

With this defeat, Diamonds too are out of the race for a semifinal berth along with Mangalore United and Malnad Gladiators.

Panthers now have eight points from their seven league matches, the same as Bijapur Bulls but the latter had defeated the Belgaum side in their clash. Panthers may still progress to the semis if Provident Bangalore defeat Mysore Maharaajas (six points) on Monday.
Panthers had beaten Maharaajas earlier.

A sense of urgency was palpable in the Panthers’ ranks as they displayed a lot of purpose from the first ball.

Never for once did their bowlers allow Diamonds to stitch together meaningful partnerships.
Skipper Sunil Joshi and K Bipin added 43 runs for the fourth wicket but that proved too little on the day.

Man of the match R Madhusudan ended the alliance, dismissing Bipin and the pacer was the most successful bowler for Panthers (3-23).

Panthers’ victory was never in doubt and they achieved it in fine style with Manish Pandey striking an elegant unbeaten half-century (55 n.o, 43b, 2x4, 3x6) while adding 89 runs for the second wicket with Shyam Ponnappa (44, 30b, 1x4, 3x6). Pandey’s fifty came in just 43 balls that included three hits over the fence.

Score Board

SD DIAMONDS: M Abhilash b Madhusudan 5; Mayank Agarwal c Pandey b Vinay 10; K Bipin c Pandey b Madhusudan 34; Pavan Deshpande b Patil 5; Sunil Joshi c Zeeshan b Johnson 31; M Nidish (run out) 3; Sunil Raju c Uthappa b Madhusudan 0; CM Gautam (not out) 22; Prasanna Patil b Vinay 2; P Maghizendan (run out) 1; Extras (B-2, LB-1, W-3) 6; Total (for 9 wkts, 17 overs) 119

Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-16, 3-38, 4-81, 5-84, 6-84, 7-98, 8-117

Bowling: R Vinay Kumar 4-0-25-2, David Johnson 3-0-28-1, R Madhusudan 4-0-23-3, Ramling Patil 3-0-19-1, J Arun Kumar 1-0-12-0, Zeeshan Sayed 2-0-9-0.

BELAGAVI PANTHERS: Manish Pandey (not out) 55; R Vinay Kumar c Joshi b Maghizendan 15; Shyam Ponnappa c Raghu b Patil 44; Vinay Uthappa (not out) 0; Extras (LB-4, NB-1, W-3) 8; Total (for 2 wkts, 15.1 overs) 122

Fall of wickets: 1-34, 2-118.

Bowling: AV Raghavendra Rao 2-0-16-0, P Maghizendan 3-0-25-1, Sunil Joshi 4-0-30-0, Prasanna Patil 4-0-23-1, Sunil Raju 2.1-0-24-0.