The Karnataka Premier League witnessed its most exciting game thus far, as Bangalore Brigadiers (Urban) scraped through to a one-wicket win against Mangalore United at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Chasing 119, Bangalore, who won their second consecutive game, were crippled right at the start, as they collapsed to 53 for 6. But a lower-order fightback anchored by David Mathias (30) and supported by Narayanan Prasad (13) and wicketkeeper Sadiq Kirmani (17*), saw to it that Bangalore prevailed. Kirmani and the No.11 batsman Mansur Ali Khan were involved in a match-winning stand and saw off some anxious moments to knock off the seven runs required when the pair got together. Mansur struck a crucial boundary in the last over to seal victory with three balls to spare, and hand Mangalore their second defeat in the competition.

Mangalore will be disappointed they didn't post a more competitive score, for they had been provided an encouraging start by openers Karun Nair and Bharat Chipli, who added 38. Rongsen Jonathan (24), RK Sabharwal (15) and Vijay Chauhan (21) all got starts but were unable to push on, as the Bangalore bowlers kept chipping away. Mansur and Prasad bagged two wickets each and the others rallied around them to limit Mangalore to 118, which just about proved chaseable.

Bijapur Bulls eased to their second successive victory in the KPL Cup, beating Malnad Gladiators, playing their first game of the tournament, by six wickets at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Chasing a competitive target of 146, Bijapur were helped by a solid opening stand of 32 between Gaurav Dhiman and Mithun Beerala, who anchored the innings with an unbeaten 63. The Malnad bowlers, led by Ryan Ninan (2 for 32), did their utmost to put pressure on Bijapur, and had them in a spot of bother at 94 for 4. But Beerala, along with captain Sudhindra Shinde, who chipped in with 27, saw to it that there were no more hiccups and knocked off the remaining runs with ten balls to spare.

The Malnad innings had centered around an unbeaten 40-ball 45 from Kunal Kapoor and he had received good support from opener K Gowtham (28) and Ganesh Satish (28). But an economical spell by left-arm spinner Daniel Laio (2 for 19) prevented Malnad from posting a formidable total.