Season 5 Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20

Warriors jump to 4th position on points table, keep their knockout hopes alive

Hubballi: Ritesh Bhatkal’s unbeaten 75 in 42 balls was the highlight of Mysore Warriors three-wicket victory over Gulbarga Mystics at the ongoing Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 tournament at KSCA Stadium here yesterday.

It was another thriller with Bhatkal holding things together to steer the Warriors home in 19.3 overs. Chasing 197, the 33-year-old dug deep into his reserves, pulled the team back from early hiccups (2/39) and remained unconquered with four fours and five sixes. He was aided by Manoj Bhandage (24 off 15) as the pair combined for 37 runs in 23 balls to seize control despite a strong showing from the Mystics attack led by Nathan D’Mello (3-38), Paras Gurbax Arya (2-24) and Ronit More (2-41).

The Warriors moved up out of the bottom with their third victory from eight matches and sit in fourth position on seven points while the Mystics are now below them on six points after their fifth loss. The Mystics, put into bat, relied on disciplined batting before seamlessly shifting gears to steady the ship from 2-24 in 2.4 overs to a more manageable 147-5 in 16 overs.

Young all-around No. 4 Dhruv Prabhakar and attacking No. 5 Thippa Reddy batted with composure and added a 29-ball 56 for the fourth wicket to pull up the Gulbarga Mystics before Manish Pandey unleashed a late assault of 41 runs in only 19 deliveries with six fours and a six.

The Raichur-born Thippa Reddy (51 off 26) slammed his second successive half century studded with five fours and three sixes while the 21-year Dhruv also made the most of his promotion making a fluent 51 in 35 balls with six fours and a six. For the Warriors, Arbind Rai and Lavish Kaushal were the most successful bowlers with 3-31 and 3-25 respectively.

In the other match, Bengaluru Blasters secured a last ball victory against Hubli Tigers. Chasing a target of 197 runs, the Blasters were able to cross the margin in last ball of 20th over with three wickets in hand.  With this victory, Bengaluru Blasters became the first team to qualify for the knockouts with 14 points. Meanwhile, Hubli Tigers ended up in the bottom position with 6 points.

With the completion of the Hubballi leg, tournament shifts to Bengaluru for final leg which starts tomorrow at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium with Bengaluru Blasters taking on Mysore Warriors at 2.30 pm.

Brief Scores: Gulbarga Mystics 196-7 in 20 overs (Macneil Noronha 27, Dhruv Prabhakar 51, Thippa Reddy 51, Manish Pandey 41 not out; Arbind Rai 3-31, Lavish Kaushal 3-25) lost to Mysore Warriors 197-7 (L R Chethan 23, Ritesh Bhatkal 75 not out , K.P. Lankesh 29, Manoj Bhandage 24; Nathan D’Mello 3-38, Paras Gurbax Arya 2-24, Ronit More 2-41).

Hubli Tigers 196/6 in 20 overs (Kruthik Krishna 34, Aneeshwar Gautam 31, Abhinav Manohar 35, Shivkumar Rakshith 50 not out, Manvanth Kumar 28; Shubhang Hegde 2/24) lost to Bengaluru Blasters 197/7 in 20 overs (Praveen Dubey 64 not out, Shubhang  Hegde 41, Wahid Faizan Khan 25; Shikhar Shetty 3-19, Vaibhav Sharma 2-56).

Tomorrow’s MATCHES (July 5)

Bengaluru Blasters Vs Mysore Warriors -2.30 pm

Shivamogga Yodhas Vs Hubli Tigers-7 pm

Venue: M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.

Catch the live action on Sony Ten 5 and Sony Kannada. Live streaming also available on Fancode.