Bullish Bijapur fell Mangalore

Binny shines with unbeaten 47

The beefy all-rounder had an ordinary day with the ball, but came to the party with the bat in a gripping run-chase to help Bijapur Bulls maintain their perfect start to Mantri KPL II, with a last-ball, two-wicket victory over Mangalore United.

Binny (47 n.o., 32b, 3x4, 1x6) carries the reputation, not entirely unfounded, of being a one-gear player who is at his best, and most comfortable, hitting the cover off the ball. On Sunday, he showcased a brand new facet of his batting, scoring freely without appearing to hit a shot in anger and running like a scalded cat to single-handedly shape a chase that appeared to be going horribly wrong after a promising beginning.

United bucked a recent trend by opting to bat first, and rode on a stylish 63 (52b, 4x4, 1x6) by opener Karun Nair to post 142 for seven, par for the course in improved batting conditions.

Nair played second fiddle to N Nidhuvan during a stabilising second-wicket stand of 44, but after United lost three for seven in 15 deliveries, he took it upon himself to both keep the score board ticking and hold the innings together. He had to see off a fiery burst from Nithin Mulki, who produced a dream spell of four for 15, but in the feisty Daniel Sequeria, Nair found an ideal partner as the two added 75 (63b) for the fifth wicket and gave their bowlers plenty to defend.

The Bulls lost Mithun Beerala in the second over but when Gaurav Dhiman and Jaya Prakash Shetty were chugging along during a stand of 54 (44b), things looked rosy.

Dramatically, the middle caved in without warning and at 76 for five, they looked in deep trouble when Binny arrived to settle the issue. With Mulki, he added 44 (30b) for the sixth, and held his nerve as the eight required off the last over, bowled by Sequeria, were brought up with confidence and panache. Talk about composure under pressure!

SCORE BOARD

MANGALORE UNITED: Karun Nair c Praveen b Mulki 63, Bharath Chipli c Praveen b Shetty 0, N Nidhuvan c Patil b Mulki 28, R Jonathan c Shetty b Mulki 2, Rohit Sabharwall b Mulki 0, Daniel Sequeria b Shetty 35, Vijay Chavan (run out) 4, Azghar Pasha (not out) 0. Extras (LB-3, W-6, NB-1) 10. Total (for 7 wkts, 20 overs) 142.

Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Chipli), 2-45 (Nidhuvan), 3-51 (Jonathan), 4-52 (Sabharwall), 5-127 (Nair), 6-140 (Chavan),7-142 (Sequeria).

Bowling: Jaya Prakash Shetty 4-0-28-2 (w-3), DV Anish 3-0-27-0 (w-1, nb-1), Stuart Binny 2-0-22-0 (w-1), Nithin Mulki 4-0-15-4, Syed Nooruddin 3-0-20-0, B Rajashekar 4-0-27-0 (w-1).

BIJAPUR BULLS: Mithun Beerala c Chipli b Arvind 2, Gaurav Dhiman st Sabharwall b Sequeria 34, Jaya Prakash Shetty st Sabharwall b Sequeria 24, Devraj Patil c Sequeria b Pasha 2, Sudhindra Shinde (run out) 5, Stuart Binny (not out) 47, Nithin Mulki st Sabharwall b Aleem 15, Praveen Kumar c Arvind b Aleem 8, DV Anish c Arvind b Sequeria 0, B Rajashekar (not out) 2. Extras (LB-1, W-5, NB-1) 7. Total (for 8 wkts, 20 overs) 146.

Fall of wickets: 1-7 (Beerala), 2-61 (Dhiman), 3-62 (Shetty), 4-64 (Patil), 5-76 (Shinde), 6-120 (Mulki), 7-135 (Praveen), 8-135 (Anish).

Bowling: Aleem 4-0-24-2 (w-1), S Arvind 4-0-24-1, Daniel Sequeria 4-0-31-3 (w-1), Azghar Pasha 4-0-29-1 (w-3, nb-1), Sinan Abdul Khader 4-0-37-0.