Pavan Deshpande turned up the style, scoring a strokeful half-century for Mysore Warriors, before Aditya Goyal and Shreyas Gopal helped restrict Bengaluru Blasters to 165/8. That saw the Warriors clinch a 6-run win in the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 Cricket Tournament at SDNR Wadiyar Stadium yesterday.

Batting first, Mysore Warriors lost skipper Karun Nair for 1, but that hardly set them back as Nihal Ullal and Pavan Deshpande got their act going. A 59-run stand between them gave the Warriors some breathing space before Nihal was gone for 23. Deshpande completed 50 with a six over midwicket in the 12th over. Later, Deshpande was caught ball-watching, and was run out for 55, having hit 7 fours and 2 sixes in his 36-ball knock.

Shubhang Hegde and Shreyas Gopal were tasked with driving the innings along, and they put on 35 runs before the latter was dismissed for 27. S. Shivraj added 13 more as the Warriors hurtled along at good clip. Hegde finished unbeaten on 33, having hit 3 fours during his knock, as the Warriors finished up with 171/6 on the board.

In response, the Blasters had a slow start as L.R. Chethan (4) and Captain Mayank Agarwal (8) were knocked over in the first two overs. K.V. Aneesh and Shivkumar Rakshith then had the task of rebuilding and the duo put on a solid 50-run stand before Shreyas Gopal struck.

Shreyas removed Rakshith for 34 and had J. Suchith trapped LBW first ball, however the hat-trick didn’t happen as Aniruddha Joshi was cautious. Aniruddha and Aneesh rebuilt the innings, upping the ante after the 10th over with the target still in sight.

Aneesh looked to get the momentum going with a couple of sixes in the 15th over, but was dismissed soon after for 48, leaving the side with a fair amount to do. Aniruddha (29) and Rishi Bopanna (2) were cleaned up in the 17th over after which Kranthi Kumar departed for 5, as the lower order started to collapse. L.R. Kumar (9*) and Pradeep (11*) saw out the remainder of the innings as the Warriors won at a canter.

Brief Scores — Mysuru Warriors: 171/6 in 20 overs won by 6 runs against Bengaluru Blasters: 165/8 in 20 overs.

Hubli beat Shivamogga

Opening batsman Mohammed Taha put in a splendid show, scoring an unbeaten 78 as Hubli Tigers registered a hard-fought 6-wicket win against Shivamogga Strikers yesterday.

Batting first, the Strikers had a horror start, losing four wickets within the first 20 deliveries of the match. Opener B.R. Sharath was gone for 3, Captain K. Gowtham added 4 to the cause before the in-form Rohan Kadam was packed off for 1. Desmond Antony was also dismissed for 1 with score on 9/4, with the Strikers in all sorts of trouble. However, Siddharth dropped anchor in the middle and with Vinay Sagar for company, absorbed some of the pressure. Vinay walked back to the hut for 13 with the score on 26 and half the team in the pavilion. Siddharth was joined by D. Avinash and the duo resurrected the Strikers’ innings with a solid stand of 90 runs. Siddharth, who by now was well set, upped the ante in the second half of the innings, but was also watchful. He completed a well-made half-century in the 18th over while Avinash added a healthy 41 to the total.

Siddharth remained unbeaten on 62, having hit six fours and a six as the Strikers posted 133/6.

In response, Hubli Tigers too lost two early wickets, as opener Luvnith Sisodia (0) and Swapnil Yelave (6) were sent back within the first two overs. However, after that Taha and Srinivas Sharath dropped anchor, with the former taking a more aggressive approach than his partner.

A couple of big overs for them helped the Tigers reach 50/2 at the end of the powerplay, after which the duo kept chipping away, adding another 29 runs in the next 5 overs, by which time Taha had got his 50 as well. 

Sharath then departed for 41, after which Abhimanyu Mithun was packed off for a first-ball duck. However, Taha’s brilliant knock was enough to see the Tigers through, as he finished unbeaten on 78 with the team picking up a comfortable win.

Brief Scores — Shivamogga Strikers: 133/6 in 20 overs lost by 6 wickets against Hubli Tigers: 134/4 in 17.2 overs.