Bengaluru, (UNI) Mangaluru Dragons register first victory in the second edition of the Shriram Capital Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 powered by FanCode.
Wicket-keeper batsman BR Sharath lit up the Chinnaswamy Stadium with 9 fours and 5 sixes on his way to an unbeaten century, supported by opener Rohan Patil who scored a breezy 54 runs to ensure they chased down the target of 202 runs with five wickets to spare.
The trend of winning the toss and bowling first continued as Mangaluru skipper K Gowtham put the Mysuru Warriors in to bat first on a sunny afternoon.
Opener CA Karthik was off the blocks and running in no time as he raced to a quickfire 29 runs off 18 balls helping Mysuru end the powerplay at a score of 54-2.
The fall of both the openers within the powerplay didn’t hamper Mysuru’s progress as captain Karun Nair and southpaw Rahul Rawat kept the scoreboard ticking by adding 47 runs off 35 balls for the third wicket before the latter was stumped off the bowling of Gowtham.
In walked Tushar Singh, who put on a partnership of 55 runs off 37 deliveries with captain Karun Nair who was at his finest. Singh was then dismissed by a bouncer from Aditya Goyal in 18th over.
Nair continued undeterred, tearing the bowling attack apart with a variety of crafty shots as he scored 77 runs off just 39 balls. Big-hitting Manoj Bhandage provided the perfect finishing touches scoring an unbeaten 10 ball 26 with two fours and two sixes to take Mysuru to a mammoth 201-5 in their 20 overs that included 52 runs in the final three overs.
In the second innings, the early departure of MG Naveen was the only positive for Mysuru in the powerplay that saw Mangaluru score 73 runs with both Rohan Patil, the Impact Player, and Sharath finding the boundary with remarkable ease.
The duo added 96 runs off 52 balls before Jagadeesha Suchith picked the wicket of Patil who had raced his way to 54 runs from 27 balls.
Sharath continued his destruction of Mysuru bowling lineup, reaching his half-century in 33 balls with a six. He followed that up with three sixes in 13th over of leg-spinner Kushal Wadhwani, who was the Impact Player for the Mysuru.
The fall of batsman Aneeshwar Gautam (6) to Suchith brought KV Siddharth (14) to the crease who was looking good until he was out caught and bowled by Shreesha Achar.
Sharath was dropped on 99 by CA Karthik and he made full use of the reprieve to bring up the first century of the tournament in 57 balls.
Anirudha Joshi (2) fell to pacer M Venkatesh in 19th over trying to finish the match with a six. Krishnappa Gowtham (5*) came in with the Mangaluru requiring just 5 runs to win off 9 balls and he made no fuss of it with them winning by 5 wickets and 7 balls to spare with Sharath remaining unbeaten on 111* from a mere 61 deliveries.
Brief Scores
Mangaluru Dragons won by 5 wickets and 7 balls to spare.
Mysuru Warriors – 201/5 in 20 overs (Karun Nair- 77 off 39 balls, Codanda Ajit Karthik – 29 off 18 balls, Manoj Bhandage – 26 off 10 balls, Krishnappa Gowtham – 1/30, Prateek Jain – 1/35, Naveen MG – 1/42, Aditya Goyal – 1/49)
Mangaluru Dragons 202/5 in 18.5 overs – (Sharath BR – 111* off 61 balls, Rohan Patil – 54 off 27 balls, KV Siddharth – 14 off 9 balls, Muralidhara Venkatesh – 2/36, Jagadeesha Suchith – 2/37, Shreesha Achar – 1/23).
