I enjoyed my girlfriend’s smile more than my century and 8-fer: Krishnappa Gowtham

The Karnataka Premier League 2019 on August 23, saw a performance from one of the most exciting all-rounders in the country, that has probably put the tournament in the spotlight in the cricketing world. Krishnappa Gowtham of Ballari Tuskers got stuck into the Shivamogga Lions team in the 15th match of the ongoing KPL 2019 and what happened next was a memorable event.

Tuskers chose to bat first and Gowtham took a liking to Lions’ bowling attack as he slammed his fifty in 24 balls after being promoted to no.3 and then slammed a whirlwind century in 39 balls, ending up with 134* in just 56 balls with 7 fours and 13 sixes to his name. This is the highest score in the tournament history, bettering Mayank Agarwal’s 119 in 2016 edition. The all-rounder seemed ecstatic about his performance.

“Once in a lifetime game”, says Gowtham

“Definitely, once in a lifetime game and I won’t forget this ever. We wanted to put runs on the board. We knew we had a good bowling unit, so just wanted to express ourselves. I don’t think I expected this, nor did anyone else out here. Thanks to everyone who turned up and supported us,” Gowtham was quoted in the post-match presentation.

The all-rounder, who plays for Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League, wasn’t done with Lions it seemed and when the opposition came out to chase 203 runs, Gowtham blew them away by picking 8 wickets for 15 runs. Apart from Akshay Ballal (40) and Pavan Deshpande (46), none of the other Shivamogga batsmen could do much against him.

Shivamogga team was bundled out for 133 in the 17th over and Tuskers won by 70 runs by VJD method. Krishnappa Gowtham was named the Man of the Match for his amazing performance, which unfortunately won’t be counted among official T20 records, as these matches are not considered official T20 matches.

He was further asked about his performance and whether he liked batting more or bowling, Gowtham grinned and said, “Well, I enjoyed my girlfriend’s smile.” The all-rounder raised his half-century off 24 balls. From there, he needed only 15 more deliveries to storm to his hundred. S.P. Manjunath bore the brunt of that fury as Gowtham smashed four consecutive sixes off him in the 12th over.

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