Shekawat and Sagar shine for Brigadiers

Nishant Shekawat's 81 and Dilp Sagar's five-wicket haul set up Bangalore Brigadiers' (Urban) 26-run win over Mysore Maharaajas at the Gangothri Glades Ground. The opener Shekawat smashed seven fours and four sixes in his 49-ball knock to push his team to 140 in a shortened match. Robin Uthappa chipped in with 26 and the pair put together an attacking stand of 59 in 5.3 overs for the second wicket to lead their team to a formidable score in 14 overs. The Maharaajas' chase got off to a poor start when they lost three wickets in an over to Sagar. He got the key wickets of KB Pawan and captain C Raghu to leave them at 26 for 3. Chethan William top scored with 36, but after he departed in the tenth over, the lower order crumbled to the left-arm spin of Narayanan Prasad, who took 4 for 14.

The Brigadiers are tied on eight points at the top of the league with Bangalore Provident, who are ahead on net-run rate.

An all-round performance from Stuart Binny helped Bijapur Bulls to an easy eight-wicket win over Mangalore United in Mysore. Binny was a tad expensive - conceding 10 an over - but he still took two wickets, including that of the Mangalore top scorer Rongsen Jonathan for 73. He then scored an unbeaten 48 off 31 balls to help chase down 179, with 16 balls to spare. Jonathan and Nikhil Haldipur (37) constructed the best stand of the Mangalore innings - 84 for the third wicket - to challenge Bijapur in the chase. But Mithun Beerala (61) and Gaurav Dhiman ensured an easy passage to the target with an opening stand of 93. Both made half-centuries - Dhiman's was more ballistic as he smashed seven fours and three sixes in his 57, which came off 24 balls. They were separated in the seventh over, which gave Binny enough time to finish off the formalities with ease.