Mangaluru, Mar 31: A spirited all-round performance by Nithin Mulky has steered Karkala Gladiators to Mangalore Premiere League Twenty20 final, after they beat the tournament favorites Team Elegant by two runs at Dr B R Ambedkar Stadium in the city on Saturday.
The fourth edition of MPL is being jointly organized by the Brand Vision Events, Mangalore Occasionals and Sea Bird Cricket Academy with the approval and guidance of Karnataka State Cricket Association. A total of 12 teams participated in the tourney which started on March 20. The final will be played on April 1 wherein Gladiators will face winners of the second semi-final.
Gladiators’ skipper Suhel Semitha won the toss and elected to bat. But the openers had to face the wrath of the bowlers of Team Elegant who sent Vrijesh and Ratish back to the dugout when the team’s score was 7. When the scoreboard showed 39 runs, the team had lost two more wickets — Suhel and Zeeshan Ali (27). It was Nithin who gave their innings real impetus with a blistering 73 off 40 balls containing boundaries. Gladiators, however, bundled out for 137.
Though it appeared to be an easy target for the Team Elegant that had remained unbeaten so far, the prominent batsmen failed to withstand the counter-attack by Gladiators. They had to lose six wickets for a meagre 58 runs by the end of 10th over. However, a timely duet between Abhishek Kanchan and Mahesh Shenoy changed the course of the match. When the chasers were in need of a five runs for the victory, Abhishek (43) lost his wicket bringing an end to 75-run partnership. The very next ball by Nithin claimed the wicket of Shenoy.
In last over, Team Elegant required same five runs for victory. In the first three balls of the over, they added two runs to their account. In the fourth ball, the team lost ninth wicket. The last ball claimed the 10th wicket of the team giving a nail-biting finish to the match.
Brief Score:
Karkala Gladiators: 137/10 (18.2 overs) Nithin Mulki 73; Zeeshan Ali 27.
Ayyappa C R 4-0-19-3; Samapth Shetty 3.2-1-9-2; Aditya Rai 3-0-26-2; Devadath Padikal 3-0-35-1
Team Elegant: 135/10 (20 overs) Abhishek Kanchan 43; Mahesh Shenoy 30; Vishwanath 32
Nithin Mulki 4-0-23-3; Abhilash Shetty 4-0-18-4; Shashi Shekhar 4-0-10-1; Zeeshan Ali 4-0-20-1
Comments
Congrats,Well done.
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