Bulls overrun Provident

The match began after a spectacular laser show in the evening and the night only got further brightened up with batsmen from either side coming up with entertaining batting performance. Provident, after electing to bat first, were cantering towards a big total when rains ended their innings at 123 for four in 17 overs.    
 
With rains eating away more than an hour’s play, the target was revised to 75 from nine overs and NC Aiyappa gave a good start to Provident giving away just five runs. But after that Bulls’s openers Mithun Beerala and Gaurav Dhiman took the attack into the opposition with some stunning stroke play. With man-of-the-match Devraj Patil taking 20 runs off Amit Verma’s second over, Bulls appeared to be making short work of the target. But just then Aiyappa came up with a hat-trick -- Dhiman, Patil and Sudhindra Shinde -- and effected a run out to bring the game back on an even keel. However, with only seven needed of the last over, Stuart Binny saw the Bulls home safely as the Bijapur side replied with 75 for five in 8.3 overs.   
 
Provident got off to a brisk start with openers Thilak Naidu and MK Manjunath (47, 42b, 5x4) piercing the field on a regular basis as Provident raced to 37 in the first five overs. After paddle-sweeping left-arm spinner DV Aneesh to fine-leg, Naidu was caught in front playing on the backfoot. Amit Verma then lasted just three balls, but the arrival of Rahul Bhatkal (39, 28b, 2x2, 2x6) spelt further trouble for Bulls. Bhatkal and Manjunath took the rival bowlers to the cleaners with utter disdain while bringing up 67 runs between them in a matter of 53 balls spread over on either side of the rain break.

The rain-stoppage appeared to have caused shift in momentum when Manjunath and Bhatkal lost their wickets in quick succession. Anirudha Joshi and Sunil Kumar Jain were putting the innings back on track when rains came down with telling effect forcing the umpires to end Provident’s innings at this stage.

SCORE BOARD
PROVIDENT BANGALORE: MK Manjunath c Patil b Rajashekar 47, Thilak Naidu lbw Aneesh 19, Amit Verma c Patil b Binny 1, Rahul Bhatkal st Patil b Aneesh 39, Anirudha Joshi (not out) 6, Sunil Kumar Jain (not out) 7. Extras (LB-1, W-3) 4. Total (for 4 wkts, 17 overs) 123.
Fall of wickets: 1-41 (Naidu), 2-42 (Verma), 3-109 (Manjunath), 4-109 (Bhatkal).   Bowling: Arif Mukka 2-0-17-0 (w-1), Jayaprakash Shetty 2-0-13-0, Stuart Binny 4-0-33-1, DV Aneesh 3-0-22-2 (w-2), Nitin Mulki 2-0-13-0, B Rajashekar 4-0-24-1.
BIJAPUR BULLS (TARGET 75 FROM 9 OVERS): Mithun Beerala st Naidu b Katti 26 (21b, 3x4, 1x6), Gaurav Dhiman c Joshi b Aiyappa 17, Devraj Patil b Aiyappa 23 (10b, 5x4), Stuart Binny (not out) 5 (2b), Sudhindra Shinde b Aiyappa 0 (1b), Nitin Mulki (run out) 1 (1b), Praveen Kumar (not out) 2 (1b). Extras (W-1) 1. Total (for 5 wkts, 8.3 overs) 75.
Fall of wickets: 1-42 (Beerala), 2-67 (Dhiman), 3-67 (Patil), 4-67 (Shinde), 5-68 (Mulki).
Bowling: NC Aiyappa 2-0-8-3, DH Sunil Kumar 1.3-0-24-0, Anand Katti 2-0-11-1, Sarfraz Ashraf 1-0-8-0, Amit Verma 2-0-24-0.