KPL 2015: Match 9 - Mysuru Warriors gets off the mark with a 5-wicket win

KPL 2015: Match 9 – Mysuru Warriors gets off the mark with a 5-wicket win: Mysuru Warriors finally got off the mark in the competition as the defending champions of KPL 2015 defeated the Bellary Tuskers by 5 wickets at the KSCA Cricket Ground, Hubli. On the other hand, Bellary Tuskers lost their 3rd match in a row, as the Mysuru Warriors chased down the 123-run target with 5 balls to spare.

Chasing 123 to register their 1st win of the season, the Mysuru Warriors got off to a decent start with Arjun Hoysala stepping up with another responsible knock. On other end, Manish Pandey failed once again as he got out for just 11, airing simple catch at covers. In form batsman Manjesh Reddy, who came at no.3 looked positive by striking couple of boundaries only before he holed out straight to mid-wicket for 11. Mysuru Warriors were 47 for loss of 2 wickets at 7.1 overs and needed another 75 runs at a rate less than 6.

At that stage, Warriors got a steady stand going between Arjun and CM Gautam who kept the scoreboard moving without any drops in their scoring rate. The two batsmen shared a stand of 35 runs in 6 overs before Arjun Hoysala got deceived by a quicker delivery from Prasidh Krishna for 42. Arjun’s innings of 42 came in 40 deliveries with the help of 5 fours.

Just like in the previous game, Arjun’s wicket paved the way towards a collapse. Shoiab Manager walked back towards the pavilion on the following ball as he was caught at mid-on. However, he was called back by umpires as the replays said the catch wasn’t clean. However, Bellary Tuskers got back to back wickets in 15th over which was delivered by Karthik CA. Set batsman CM Gautam was first to go as he was caught at covers for 18. Couple of balls later, Naveen MG holed out at long-on leaving his side half down at 84.

But Warriors didn’t panic with Shoiab Manager hitting a six on the final ball of 16th over, which produced 12 runs. With a boundary in 18th over by Krishnappa Gowtham and a boundary in the 19th by Shoiab, Mysuru Warriors levelled the scores at end of 19th over. With a single through off-side, Gowtham sealed a 5-wicket win for his side with 5 balls to spare.

Earlier, Mysuru Warriors’ captain Manish Pandey elected to field first after winning the toss with his side making couple of changes from their previous game. Warriors replaced CK Akshay with Shoaib Manager and Shantharaju with the leading wicket taker in recent first division league, Anand Doddamani.

Mysuru Warriors got the perfect of starts with Jagadeesha Suchith striking big in first over. Bharat Chipli opened the account with a boundary off the 5th ball and tried to strike another on the following delivery but ended up edging it to Shoiab Manager at slips. Warriors didn’t have to wait for long for getting the 2nd wicket as Pawan Deshpande, edged the ball into keeper hands trying to play cut shot on 1st ball of the 2nd over bowled by Krishnappa Gowtham.

It was on shoulders of Amit Verma and Devraj Patil to rescue the Bellary Tuskers’ innings who put up a steady stand of 46 runs for the 3rd wicket. Amit Verma tried to play shots whereas Devraj stuck around to anchor the innings. The 46-run stand, which lasted for 7 overs came to an end when Amit Verma threw his wicket away by hitting straight into hands of Arjun Hoysala at long-off producing a wicket for Naveen MG. It didn’t take much time for Mysuru Warriors to get rid of Devraj Patil as Suchith got him stumped for 23. Later Anand Doddamani kept the runs coming tough with tight lines and the Bellary Tuskers’ struggled to score runs in mid-stage. With pressure building up, Manjunatha ended up holing out at long-on to Suchith on the bowling of K Gowtham which brought an end to his 34-run stand for 5th wicket with Aniruddha Joshi.

Suchith struck for the 3rd time in his 3rd straight over as this time he got rid of Prasanna Patil, who miscued a shot to Sunil Kumar at long-on. Despite of the falling wickets, Aniruddha kept the runs coming from the other end. However, his gritty innings of 43 which came in 36 balls with 4 fours ended when Suchith returned to bowl his last over in 20th over and got Aniruddha stumped. Suchith got his 5th wicket on the last ball of his 4th over as Likhit Bannur was caught by Shoaib Manager at deep mid-wicket.

Suchith finished off with figures of 5 for 20 as the Bellary Tuskers ended their innings at 122 for 8. With this 5-wicket haul, Jagadeesha Suchith became only the 2nd player in history of KPL to get 5-wicket haul. The first player was DN Sagar in 2009, who recorded figures of 5 for 17 against Mysore Maharaajas while playing for Bangalore Brigadiers (Urban).

Brief scores:

Bellary Tuskers – 122 for 8 in 20 overs (AA Joshi 43, DT Patil 23; J Suchith 5/20, K Gowtham 2/21, MG Naveen 1/19)

Mysuru Warriors: – 123 for 5 in 19.1 overs (AA Hoysala 42, S Manager 20*, CM Gautam 18, K Gowtham 16*; CA Karthik 2/12, PU Deshpande 1/9)

Mysuru Warriors won by 5 wickets

Man Of the Match: J Suchith