KPL 2015: Belagavi Panthers win to finish league phase as No. 1

Mysuru, Sep 17: An unbeaten 60 by captain R Vinay Kumar and his 61-run association for the 2nd wicket with Stalin Hoover (41) paved the way for Belagavi Panthers' convincing 7-wicket victory over Bijapur Bulls in the Karnataka Premier League (KPL) 2015 here on Wednesday night (September 16).

Tournament schedule

With the victory the Panthers achieved two things - they finished the league on the top of the table with a net run rate of +1.375 as against Bijapur Bulls' +1.000; secondly they handed the Bulls their first defeat to ensure no team stayed unbeaten in the league phase. Both Panthers and Bulls ended with 11 points each.

Chasing the Bulls' painfully slow 118, Panthers lost opener Reddy early. But Stalin and Vinay made merry on a wicket that was difficult to bat on.

Three teams, two from the first match and the Bulls in the second failed to come to terms with the slowness of the wicket and struggled to make runs.

But the Panthers showed that they had shrugged off the lethargy they displayed on Monday night and went about ensuring victory for themselves.

After the fall of Hoover, Vinay continued to call the shots and led his team through.

Earlier, Bulls were in all kinds of trouble losing wickets in quick bursts. Even the batsmen who spent time in the middle for a fair bit were guilty of throwing their wicket away.

Thanks to Nidesh M (24 not out) and Vyshak (21), the Bulla managed to post 118 in their allotted 20 overs, struggling at 73/7 at one point of time.

The two teams will clash again in Qualifier 1 on Friday evening (September 18).

FULL SCORECARD

Bijapur Bulls

R Samarth c Chiranjeevi b S Hoover 23 (19b, 5x4); Rajoo Bhatkal b Vinay 8; Robin Uthappa (run out) 11; Aditya Somanna c P Dubey b K Bharath 21 (25b, 1x4); Deepak Chougule c Chiranjeevi b Vinu Prasad 0; Suneel Raju b K Bharath 3; Sharath B R c & b Zeeshan Ali 1; Nidish M (not out) 24 (23b, 1x4); Vyshak Vijay Kumar c Chianjeevi b HS Sharath 21 (20b, 2x4); KC Cariappa (not out) 0

Extras: (b-1, lb-3, w-2) 6

Total: (For 8 wickets, 20 overs) 118

Fall of wickets: 1-25 (Bhatkal); 2-32 (Samarth); 3-62 (Uthappa); 4-66 (Chougule); 5-69 (Somanna); 6-71 (Raju); 7-73 (Sharath); 8-116 (Vyshak)

Bowling: Vinay Kumar 4-0-28-1; HS Sharath 4-0-28-1; Stalin Hoover 3-0-16-1; Praveen Dubey 4-0-20-0; Vinu Prasad 2-0-12-1; K Bharath 2-0-8-2; Zeeshan Ali Sayyed 1-0-2-1

Belagavi Panthers

Abhishek Reddy c KC Raghavendra b A Somanna 5; Stalin Hoover c Samarth b Cariappa 41 (27b, 5x4, 1x6); Vinay Kumar (not out) 60 (49b, 7x4, 1x6); Abdul Majid c Uthappa b KC Raghavendra 4; R Jonathan (not out) 6

Extras: (lb-1, w-4) 5

Total: (For 3 wickets, 16.2 overs) 121

Fall of wickets: 1-14 (Reddy); 2-85 (Hoover); 3-96 (Majid)

Bowling: Vyshak Vijay Kumar 2-0-14-0; Aditya Somanna 2.2-0-27-1; Suneel Raju 1-0-7-0; R Samarth 1-0-12-0; KC Raghavendra 4-0-30-1; KC Cariappa 3-0-10-0; Nidesh M 3-0-20-0

Toss: Won by Belagavi Panthers; opted to field

Result: Belagavi Panthers won by 7 wickets

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