Bijapur Bulls register comfortable victory over Warriors

A disciplined performance with the bat and bowl helped Bijapur Bulls post a comfortable seven-wicket win over Mysore Warriors in the Karnataka Premier League here on Tuesday.

After ending on the losing side in a close encounter against defending champions Mangalore United on Sunday, the Bulls came up with a spirited effort to down the Warriors and take their tally to four points from three matches.

Electing to field first, Bulls restricted Warriors to a modest 111/9 in the stipulated 20 overs, thanks to some fine bowling efforts from Abhimanyu Mithun (2/19), Naveen MG (2/25) and KC Cariappa (2/20). Warriors failed to come good with the ball too, letting the Bulls reach the target in 17.2 overs. 

It was not the brightest of starts for the Warriors as their openers - KB Pawan (1) and Shishir Bhavane (2) - were sent packing early. Reeling at seven for two in the second over, Warriors’ skipper Manish Pandey (36, 33b. 2x4) played the anchor but wickets kept tumbling at the other end.  Just when the well-settled Pandey was looking to shift gears, Mithun trapped the right-hander leg before to push Warriors further back to the wall with the score reading 83 for seven in 16.2 overs.

Warriors then survived the scare of being bundled out below the 100-run mark. SP Manjunath played a valuable cameo of 31 from 22 balls which included three fours and one six as they went past the three-figure mark. In response, Bulls began the chase in a commanding fashion. Their openers - R Samarth (49, 48b, 5x4) and Suraj Sampath (38, 38b, 4x4) -- piled runs at good pace.

When Bulls were cruising towards the target, leg-spinner Amit Verma produced a small twist in the match, bagging two wickets in two balls, removing opener Suraj and one-drop Kunal Kapoor.
Suchit J then claimed the wicket of Nishanth Singh in the next over to reduce Bulls to 79/3 in 13. 2 overs from 78 for no loss. Bulls didn’t allow the sudden twist affect their chase, though.

Mangalore victorious

In the second match of the day, Mangalore United continued their good run as they beat Belagavi Panthers by four wickets to bring up their third straight win of the tournament.

Put into bat, the Panthers managed to score 141 for nine in the stipulated 20 overs.  
In response, Mangalore lost six wickets before reaching the target in 19.5 overs with Karun Nair scoring an unbeaten 91.


Brief scores:

Mysore Warriors: 111/9 in 20 overs (Manish Pandey 36, Manjunath SP 31; Abhimanyu Mithun 2-19, Naveen MG 2-25) lt to Bijapur Bulls: 113/3 in 17.2 overs (R Samarth 49 n.o., Suaj Sampath 38; Amit Verma 2-17).

Belagavi Panthers: 141/9 (Suneel Raju 30, Vinay Kumar 40; Chetan Williams 4/20) lt to Mangalore United: 142/6 (Karun Nair 91; Stallin Hoover 2/27).