The penultimate day of the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 pit the top four teams against each other with each having opportunity to secure their place in the top four.
Let’s look at the match report for the two matches.
Match 27: Gulbarga Mystics vs Mysore Warriors
The first match on August 21st brought the second and third-placed teams together. Both had the opportunity to get to second and have an easy way to the final. It was the GMY team which grabbed the opportunity in this match.
The game got off with MW winning the toss and electing to bowl first. Coming onto bat first, the GMY team scored 148/4 in 17.3 overs when rain stopped the match. It was the captain Manish Pandey who saved the match with his 57 off of just 27 deliveries and took his team to a good total.
The VJD method had to be implemented as the rain lashed out a good part of the game. Mysore were given a target of 110 runs in 11 overs. Chasing this target, MW got off to a poor start with both their openers departing at a team score of 10. Pavan Deshpande (25) and Shreyas Gopal (32) tried but could not complete the run chase. In the end, MW could only produce 102/7 and lost by seven runs.
Brief Score:
GMY: 148/4
Manish Pandey: 57(27), Jeswanth Acharya: 34(21)
Ritesh Bhatkal: 2-8-2, Codanda Ajit Karthik: 3-19-2
MW: 102/7
Shreyas Gopal: 32(16), Pavan Deshpande: 25(15)
Shreyas Gopal: 4-45-2, Shubhang Hegde: 4-21-1
Match 28: Bengaluru Blasters vs Hubli Tigers
The second match on August 21st brought the table toppers Bengaluru against fourth-placed Hubli. It was an opportunity for Hubli to get into the top three with one match more to play. It was however Bengaluru who came up as the winners in a closely fought match.
Hubli, after winning the toss decided to bowl first which proved to be a good decision as first, as BB lost their first and second wickets at 19 and 21 respectively. Next batters Shivkumar Rakshith (50) and Aniruddha Joshi (33) however stopped the fall of wickets and steadied the innings. At the end of the first innings, BB were able to make 171/8. Sharan Gouda took three important wickets from the HT side.
Coming onto chase what looked like a big total, HT got off to a decent start but none of the openers could convert their good start into a big score. It was Mohammed Taha who scored 71 in 47 balls to take the run chase forward. None of the other batters however could play a supporting role as HT remained just two runs shy at the end. Jagadeesha Suchith took three wickets alongside two of Santokh Singh.
BB have taken an impressive lead at the Maharaja Trophy League table with 14 points from 10 matches.
Brief Score:
BB: 171/8
Shivkumar Rakshith: 50(30), Aniruddha Joshi: 33(19)
Jagadeesha Suchith: 4-20-3, Santokh Singh: 4-38-2
HT: 169/7
Mohammed Taha: 71(47), Tushar Singh: 25(16)
Sharan Gouda: 3-24-3, BU Shivkumar: 4-33-2
