KPL 2016, Match 18 Review: Mysuru Warriors subdue Panthers

Mysuru Warriors are on a roll. Led ably by Manish Pandey they whipped Belagavi Panthers in no uncertain terms in the fifth edition of KPL T20 tournament tie at the KSCA Stadium at Rajnagar on Saturday night.

Defending a target of 143 they choked the Panthers by prising out wickets constantly to finish victors by 34 runs.

Belagavi Panthers who must have fancied their chances were done in by some excellent in-swing bowling by Mysuru Warriors’ new ball bowler Suraj Yadav. His huge in-swingers were too good for Panthers. Yadav bagged three wickets in his initial two overs and with it the man of the match award. At the other end, with Vyshak Vijayakumar chipping in with one wicket, Belagavi Panthers were left reeling at 23 for four.

Later, in the 10th over, left-arm spinner J Suchith picked up three wickets to completely wreck the innings. His final haul of four wickets cost him just 26 runs. Vinay Kumar (36; 33b, 1×6, 3×4) top-scored for the losers.

Earlier, put into bat, Mysuru Warriors were off to a shocking start losing the top three wickets for 17. But a fourth-wicket partnership of 79 in 59 balls between skipper Manish Pandey (44; 35b, 3×6, 2×4) and R Jonathan (43; 35b, 2×6, 4×4) pulled the team out of the woods.

On a pitch that made stroke-making tough, Jonathan and Pandey took their chances and it paid off most of the time. Medium pacer T Pradeep caused maximum damage picking up four wickets for 18 runs. Skipper Vinay Kumar bagged two for 17.

Brief scores:

Mysuru Warriors: 142 ((Manish Pandey 44, Jonathan 43, T Pradeep 4/18, R Vinay Kumar 2/17, Sachin Shinde 2/30) beat  Belagavi Panthers: 108 in 17.2 overs (Vinay Kumar  36, Mayank Agarwal 21, Praveen Dubey 20, J Suchith 4/26, Suraj Yadav 3/19, Vyshak Vijaykumar 2/7) by 34 runs