The two matches of the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 that took place yesterday were entirely different in nature. While the first saw a team dominate the other won, the second was a close one.
Let’s look at the match report for the 17th and 18th matches.
Match 17: Bengaluru Blasters vs Mangalore United:
The first match of August 15 saw Bengaluru dominate a struggling Mangalore side. Coming onto bat first, BB scored a humongous 191/4 in 20 overs. All of their batters apart from the openers LR Chetan (6) came good with the bat. Aniruddha Joshi with a sensational half-century in just 24 balls was instrumental in BB’s surge to a massive score. Captain Mayank Agarwal also played impressive innings of 47 off of 27.
Mangalore United struggled at the first ball itself and lost their opener on just eight. Captain Ravikumar Samarth (32) was the only top-order batter to show fight while all the others fell easily. BB bowlers were all over the MU’s batters as they sent everyone packing in just 16 overs at a score of 125. BB won the match by a massive 66 runs.
Brief Scoreboard:
BB: 191/4
Aniruddha Joshi: 57(24), Mayank Agarwal: 47(27)
T Pradeep: 3-20-3, Rishi Bopanna: 4-26-3
MU: 125/10
Rvikumar Samarth: 32(24), Abhinav Manohar: 23(17)
Aditya Somanna: 3-19-1, Aneeshwar Gautam: 4-25-1
Match 18: Gulbarga Mystics vs Hubli Tigers
The last match on the Srikantadatta Narasimha Raja Wadeyar Ground was a good homage to the ground that produced many exciting games in the tournament so far. In the 18th match of the Maharaja Trophy, GMY clashed with HT for a shot at number two place in the table.
Having won the toss, HT decided to bowl first. Gulbarga Mystics on the back of a great knock from Jeswanth Acharya (89) put an impressive 177/4 on the board. Acharya hit six boundaries and seven massive sixes to dominate the HT bowlers.
Coming on to chase what seemed like a big total, the HT openers Luvnith Sisodia did one better and made 96 off of just 55 balls. He remained unbeaten at the end and led his team across the finish line with Abhimanyu Mithun (28).
Brief Score:
GMY: 177/4
Jeswanth Acharya: 89(58), Rohan Patil: 28(28)
Pranav Bhatia: 2-14-1, Vidhwath Kaverappa: 3-23-1
HT: 178/5
Luvnith Sisodia: 96(55), Abhimanyu Mithun: 28(16)
Gneshwar Naveen: 4-32-2, Doddamani Anand: 3-25-1
