Contrasting wins for Bulls, Tuskers

Cricket Karnataka Premier League

On an overcast afternoon and with matches truncated due to rains, Bellary Tuskers and Bijapur Bulls posted constrasting second wins in the fifth edition of the Karbonn KPL tournament at the KSCA Stadium, Rajnagar, here on Saturday.

While the Bellary-Mangalore United match was reduced to seven-overs-a-side affair, the Bijapur-Shivamogga match was curtailed to 13 overs a side, with both matches witnessing intermittent drizzle and sharp showers, leading to stoppages.

Tuskers, riding home on opener Amit Verma’s measured innings, registered their second win on the trot against  United, after three winless matches. Bulls, on the other hand, decimated Shivamogga in the second match of the day.

Having invited United to bat, Tuskers’ task was made easy by their bowlers led by Prasidh Krishna (2/11 in 2 overs), and their Player of the Match in their previous outing against Rockstars, Anil I G (2/11 in 1 over).

United were eventually restricted to 48/6 in seven overs to which the match was reduced to due to showers.

Captain Karun Nair was the lone man showing some stomach for fight with 25 off 17.
Tuskers appeared to be making heavy weather of the meagre total in their chase to achieve it in quick time with Karthik, the reliable K B Pawan and Rohan Kadam falling to rash shots.

Captain Verma, however, ensured the team sailed through safely in the company of S P Manjunath (26 off 18b) without further damage.

Bulls romp home

In the other rain-affected match, Bulls trounced Shivamogga by 65 runs, having posted a commanding 159 for three in their allotted 13 overs.

Bulls’ formidable total came on the back of a superlative batting display first by opener R Samarth, who scored 51 before being run out by Stuart Binny-Sadiq Kirmani combine. Samarth, in his 25-ball essay, hit as many as six fours and two sixes.  Then skipper Robin Uthappa picked his boundaries at will for his 67 off 37 balls embellished with six fours and four sixes. 

Faced with the mammoth total, Shivamogga lost the plot with Dega Nischal, Abrar Kazi, Kirmani, David Mathias and captain Binny, all back in the pavilion with the score reading 14 for five.

Siddharth K V and Pavan Deshpande, who put on unbroken 80-run partnership, were always fighting a losing battle.

Warriors score

In the third and final match of the day, led Manish Pandey’s fine innings, Mysuru Warriors whipped Belagavi Panthers by 34 runs.

Having to defend a target of 143, the Warriors choked the Panthers by prising out wickets constantly to finish victors.

Pandey (44) and Jonathan (43) dazzled with the bat to help Warriors score 142 in 20 overs. Left-arm spinner J Suchith (4/26) and new ball bowler Suraj Yadav (3/19) then shared seven wickets between them as they bundled out Panthers for 108.

Brief scores: Mangalore United: 48/6 in 7 overs (Karun Nair 25) lt to Bellary Tuskers: 52/3 in 5.5 overs (Amit Verma 26 n.o.; Ronit More 2-18).

Bijapur Bulls: 159/3 in 13 overs (Ravikumar Samarth 51, Robin Uthappa 67) bt Namma Shivamogga: 94/5 in 13 overs (Siddharth KV 44 n.o., Pavan Deshpande 34 n.o.; Abhimanyu Mithun 3-2).

Mysuru Warriors: 142 in 20 overs (Manish Pandey 44, R Jonathan 43; T Pradeep 4-18, R Vinay Kumar 2-17, Sachin Shinde 2-30) bt Belagavi Panthers: 108 all out in 17.2 overs (Vinay Kumar 36; J Suchith 4-26, Suraj Yadav 3-19, Vyshak Vijaykumar 2-7).