Bijapur prevail over Mysore in tense game

Mysore Maharajas squandered a major opportunity to get past Bijapur Bulls and succumbed to a five-run defeat in their opening game of the inaugural Karnataka Premier League. They grabbed the last seven Bijapur wickets for 18 to restrict them to a chaseable 156, and failed to take advantage of an opening stand of 96 between Nitin Bille (35) and HT Sudhir Rao (77) in their run-chase.

Bijapur opted to bat and were given a solid start by opener Gaurav Dhiman (69) and wicketkeeper Devraj Patil (40), who added a quickfire 54 for the second wicket. Patil was especially aggressive, striking five fours and two sixes in his 18-ball knock. But offspinner C Raghu then triggered a collapse, finishing with 4 for 8 to even out things.

Mysore, after their solid opening stand, were coasting at 130 for 2 but Stuart Binny grabbed two wickets, including that of Rao. Left-arm spinner Deepak Anish chipped in with one to see Bijapur home. Those three wickets fell for just six runs in nine balls, and the sixth-wicket pair of Adithya Sagar and KM Aiyappa failed to score the required 21 runs off the remaining 10 balls to concede the game.

Mangalore United recovered from defeat in their opening game to beat Shamanoor Davangere Diamonds by 32 runs at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Their effort was led by a blistering 51-ball 89 by captain and opener Bharat Chipli which formed the base of a fighting score of 160. Mangalore appeared to have justified their decision to bat after they were sitting pretty at 116 for 2 in the 15th over but they lost three wickets for four runs in the space of an over to give Davangere a chance to fight back. However, a late cameo from Vijay Chauhan (27) ensured Mangalore reached a total that eventually proved adequate.

Davangere needed a good start to scale down their target but they faltered, losing their first three wickets for 27 runs. Opener Mayank Agarwal (34) and Sunil Raju (31) launched a recovery, adding 54, but fell off successive deliveries to virtually shut out any possibility of a Davangere win. Mohanram Nidesh chipped in with 23 but, by then, it was too late. Mangalore's bowling effort was a collective one, with each bowler bagging at least a wicket.