JOIN USWarriors too good for Tuskers
An unbroken century alliance between Shishir Bhavane and Manjesh Reddy powered Mysore Warriors to a comfortable nine-wicket win over Bellary Tuskers in a Karnataka Premier League match here at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on Sunday.
Chasing Tuskers’ 153/7, the Warriors replied with 157 for the loss of KB Pawan (25, 16b, 3x4, 1x6) for their fourth win in five matches. Tuskers, meanwhile, crashed to their fourth defeat in five outings.
Bhavane (55 n.o., 35b, 3x4, 4x6) and Reddy (74 n.o., 46b, 7x4, 3x6) then took the Tuskers’ attack to cleaners to forge a 131-run association for the second wicket in just 80 balls as the Mysore team won with almost four overs to spare.
Opting to bat first on what appeared to be good batting surface, Tuskers got off to steady start with an uncharacteristically subdued Robin Uthappa (41, 41b, 3x4, 1x6) yielding spotlight to Gaurav Dhiman (26, 22b, 5x4). The opening stand saw Tuskers score run-a-ball 48 before a frugal J Suchith removed Dhiman. In came Mayank Agarwal (33, 24b, 1x4, 2x6) and so did the much-needed urgency. The Uthappa-Agarwal duo raised an even 50-run partnership in matter of 34 balls and looked set for big total when Tuskers innings lost its way.
Suchith struck for the second time to send a well-set Uthappa back while medium pacer Aditya Sagar (3/17) in the space of three balls, getting rid of Agarwal and skipper Devraj Patil. Their misery only worsened when Abrar Kazi was run out 15 balls later and Sagar had his third victim the next ball in the shape of M Vinodh. Warriors skipper Manish Pandey got into the act, running out Arvind Reddy with a direct hit. From an encouraging 98 for one in 13 overs to 137/7 in the 19th over, Tuskers had conceded a lot of ground to Warriors.
After an excellent job by their bowlers, Warriors’ batsmen complimented the effort with a clinical display of batsmanship.
Bijapur thump Rockstars
In the second match, Bijapur Bulls scored a convincing 49-run victory over Rockstars to go second in the points table with eight points.
Batting first in a rain-hit match which resulted in reduction of overs to 12, Bijapur Bulls scored a formidable 138 for four with R Samarth (33) and Abhinav Manohar (30) playing useful innings.
In reply, Rockstars managed only 88 for eight as KC Cariappa shone with the ball bagging four wickets for 19 runs.
Brief scores: Bellary Tuskers 153/7 in 20 overs (Robin Uthappa 41, Gaurav Dhiman 26, Mayank Agarwal 33; Aditya Sagar 3-17, Suchith J 2-22) lt to Mysore Warriors: 157/1 in 16.1 overs (KB Pawan 25, Shishir Bhavane 55 n.o., Manjesh Reddy 74 n.o.).
Bijapur Bulls: 138/4 (R Samarth 33, Abhinav Manohar 30, Deepak Chougale 28 n.o.; Mahesh 2-22) bt Rockstars: 88/8 in 12 overs (Dhruv 27; KC Cariappa 4-19).