Bellary Tuskers suffered their third consecutive loss when Mysore Warriors beat them by nine runs in a rain-truncated match in KPL-V at the KSCA Stadium here on Wednesday.
For Warriors, skipper Manish Pandey and Arjun Hoysala came up with goods, scoring 52 and 46 runs respectively to set up a decent total of 158/7 in 17 overs. Tuskers, chasing the target in 17 overs, were on track almost right through their reply but the constant loss of wickets cost them the match.
Batsman Rohan Kadam was in good touch and made a handy 61. Kadam and KB Pawan (14) got the team off to a good start by adding 41 runs in 4.4 overs before the in-form Pawan fell. Warriors bowlers stuck to their lines and backed by good fielding pulled off an excellent win.
Rain rescues UnitedRain came to the rescue of Mangalore United in an earlier match as they escaped with honours even against Bijapur Bulls. In a major spot of bother after being reduced to an embarrassing 45/7, Mangalore United had the rains to thank as a severe downpour ensured no more play. Mangalore were fortified by the return of star batsman Karun Nair. The right-hander, who was away representing India ‘A’ on the tour of Australia and hence missed the initial KPL matches, was back in the mix and opened the batting.
But Bijapur Bulls, winning the toss and inserting the opposition, came out with an aggressive intent to put Mangalore under the cosh straightaway. Paceman Abhimanyu Mithun was superb in the first two overs. He dismissed last match centurion Nishant Sekhawat with the first ball of the match. Next over he had left-hander Shishir Bhavane edging the ball to keeper KC Avinash.
At the other end Zahroor Farooqui got the prize wicket of Karun Nair as Mangalore were reduced to 15/3 in 3.2 overs. Mangalore never recovered from the early blows and kept losing wickets at regular intervals before rains saved their day. Mithun, Farooqui and MG Naveen each picked up two wickets.
Brief scores: Mangalore United: 45/7 in 9 overs (Abhimanyu Mithun 2-10, Zahoor Faroqui 2-25, Naveen MG 2-9) vs Bijapur Bulls; Mysore Warriors: 157/5 in 17 overs (Manish Pandey 52, Arjun Hoysala 46, R Jonathan 30; Prateek Jain 2-33) bt Bellary Tuskers: 148/6 in 17 overs (Rohan Kadam 61, CA Karthik 30; Gowtham K 2-26, Koushik V 2-26).
