Vinay Kumar leads Panthers to big win

Riding on an unconquered third-wicket partnership of 122 between skipper R Vinay Kumar (64 n.o.) and R Jonathan (62 n.o.), Belagavi Panthers began their Karnataka Premier League (KPL) campaign with an eight-wicket win over Mangalore United. Chasing Mangalore's 141, Panthers overhauled the target with 12 balls to spare.

At the Rajnagar cricket stadium on Thursday , Panthers opted to field after winning the toss. Vinay handed the new ball to young Stalin Hoover, who lived up to his captain's faith, sending back Rohit Sabarwal (0) in the first over. Hoover struck again in the third over - Shishir Bhavane holed out to Jonathan - to reduce the former champions to 132.

Skipper Karun Nair (38) then stepped up to the challenge and built a 45-run partnership with KC Avinash, who remained unbeaten on 50. The duo took the team to a respectable 141 for fiv as Arsdeep Singh Brar chipped in with a quick-fire 25-ball 36 after the departure of Nair.

In reply, Panthers began on the wrong foot, losing two quick wickets. The first to go was Abhishek Reddy (4), who was caught by Nair off pacer Ronit More. Panthers' mainstay Mayank Agarwal (12) followed in quick succession, finding the safe hands of Nair off Mithra Kanth's bowling. From there on, Vinay and Jonathan took over and rotated strike brilliantly .

Man of the Match Vinay's 50-ball 64 was studded with six hits to the fence, while Jonathan was more aggressive as his 43-ball innings was peppered with three cracking boundaries and four massive hits over the fence.

Brief Scores: Mangalore United 141/5 in 20 overs (KC Avinash 50*, Karun Nair 38; Stalin Hoover 2/20) lost to Belgavi Panthers 144/2 in 18 overs (Vinay Kumar 64*, R Jonathan 62*; M Yadav 1/22)