An entertaining half-century from Sharath BR and then some fine bowling performances meant Shivamogga Strikers registered a 13-run win over Mysore Warriors on Sunday.
Asked to bat first, Shivamogga Strikers, who were on their way to victory, got off to a solid start with openers Rohan Kadam and Sharath BR hitting half-centuries. While Rohan found it difficult to pick up the pace, Sharath was in fine touch and found gaps easily which helped improve the scoring rate.
Rohan (18) was dismissed just before the end of the powerplay and Vinay Sagar (1) followed in the same over. But Sharath continued to entertain fans over the long weekend, hitting six fours and two sixes, before reaching his half-century in the 10th over, before being dismissed for 53.
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Siddharth (36), Stalin Hoover (16) and Avinash D (25) made very useful contributions in the middle order. Captain K Gautam 6 while MB Darshan added 10 runs and an entertaining innings ended with a score of 174/8.
In reply, Karun Nair was dismissed for a first-ball duck, before Nihal Ullal (13) was also dismissed in the fourth over, causing trouble for the Warriors. But Pawan Deshpande again came in his favor.
Deshpande made a splash despite GS Chiranjeevi (0), Shreyas Gopal (7) and Shubhang Hegde (13) all going early. All of them allowed Deshpande to score freely, but falling wickets kept the pressure on the batsmen.
Shivraj S (19) and Deshpande put on 36 runs for the sixth wicket before the former was dismissed, allowing the strikers a little more noose. K Gowtham and Uttam Ayyappa were then mainly in the wreck, picking up a couple of wickets each to return the Warriors.
Fall of wickets further slowed Deshpande and he was eventually dismissed for 64 in the 18th over. Lochan Appanna and Vidhyadhar Patil made some blistering strikes in the end but the Warriors lost by 13 runs.
On India’s Independence Day, Mangalore United take on Bengaluru Blasters at 3 pm, while Gulbarga Mystics play Hubli Tigers in Mysore, in a 7 pm game. These are the last two matches in Mysore before the tournament moves to Bangalore.
Brief Scores: Shivamogga Strikers – 174/8 in 20 overs (Sharath BR – 53 off 35 balls, Siddharth – 36 off 30 balls, Avinash D – 25 off 17 balls, Vidyadhar Patil – 3/39, Shubhang Hegde – 2/19, Aditya Goel – 2/38) Won by 161/8 runs in 20 overs against Mysore Warriors (Pawan Deshpande – 64 off 47 balls, Lochan Appanna – 27 off 14 balls, Shivraj S – 19 off 12 balls, K Gautam 2/22, Uttam Ayyappa – 2/35)
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