JOIN USPavan spurs United
The batting machinery of Mangalore United encountered its first glitch in the third edition of the KPL on Friday. But the defending champions showed enough spunk with ball to register a 35-run win over Bellary Tuskers at the M Chinnaswamy stadium.
United laboured their way to 145 for six in 20 overs after being asked to bat first, and then restricted Tuskers to 110 for nine in 20 overs. United now have eight points from four matches, sitting comfortably at the top of the table.
Karun Nair (17), skipper Rohit Sabarwal (0) and Ganesh Satish (17), the engine room of United’s batting, failed to fire, resulting in an early crawl for the Mangaloreans. Ganesh and Pawan Deshpande (51) were involved in a 57-run alliance for the third wicket but they consumed 54 balls for it before Ganesh fell to offie Ritesh Bhatkal.
At 76 for three in the 13th over, United were dangerously close to falling short of a competitive score, and a rather slow and low pitch too didn’t support their batsmen’s intentions for big hits. It required a hectic 31-run stand off 16 balls for the fifth wicket between Udit Patel and Anirudh Joshi to provide some energy to their sagging innings.
It wasn’t a daunting target, and Tuskers have some free-hitting batsmen like Robin Uthappa, Mayank Agarwal and skipper C Raghu in their ranks. However, that heavy top-order has not performed collectively in this franchise of the tournament and the trend continued here.
Uthappa’s (11) attempt to clear Ronit More ended in the hands of Anirudh Joshi at mid-off, Raghu (1) chipped left-arm spinner Mitrakant Yadav to Nair at covers, and Agarwal (12) snicked Yadav to Sabarwal behind the stumps as Tuskers slumped to 32 for three inside the first five overs. Thereon, there was only one winner in the match.
Easy win for Bulls
Bijapur Bulls defeated Belagavi Panthers by nine wickets in the first match of the day. Panthers made 145 for seven in 20 overs, but Bulls chased down the target in 16.4 overs. R Samarth (68 n.o., 60b, 8x4, 1x6) and MG Naveen (71 n.o., 39b, 3x4, 5x6) led their surge with an unbeaten 141-run partnership for the second wicket.
Brief scores: Belagavi Panthers: 145/7 in 20 overs (Rohan Kadam 30, D Nidhish 29; A Mithun 2-35, KP Appanna 2-20) lt to Bijapur Bulls: 146/1 in 16.4 overs (R Samarth 68 n.o., MG Naveen 71 n.o.).
Mangalore United: 145/6 in 20 overs (Pavan Deshpande 51, Anirudh Joshi 29; Mohammad Niyas 3-42) bt Tuskers: 110/9 in 20 overs (Devraj Patil 20; Mitrakant Yadav 3-21, SL Akshay 2-26).