Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20: Shivamogga Lions commence their inaugural campaign with dominant victory over Mangaluru Dragons

Bengaluru (Karnataka)[India], August 15 (ANI): The Mangaluru Dragons and the Shivamogga Lions faced off against each other to kick off their inaugural campaigns in the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20. The Shivamogga Lions emerged victorious at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, defeating the Mangaluru Dragons by 9 runs. Their stellar victory was powered by a match-winning partnership, woven together by Skipper Shreyas Gopal (46) and Abhinav Manohar (50) who took apart the Dragons’ bowling attack in the death overs. Their efforts were further aided by a composed display of death bowling by the astute V Koushik and Sharath HS that nullified the late-innings blitzkrieg brought on by Siddharth KV and Anirudha Joshi.
Put in to bat by the Mangaluru Dragons, the Shivamogga Lions got off to an ideal start scoring 50 runs in the powerplay without the loss of wickets, courtesy; openers Rohan Kadam (27 runs off 25 balls) and wicketkeeper-batsman Nihal Ullal (28 runs off 19 balls). The Dragons came back strong with pacer Naveen MG getting rid of both the openers with well-directed bouncers.
At 80-3 in 11.2 overs, the stage was set for the Shivamogga Lions to put up a big total when Abhinav Manohar walked into bat, joining skipper Shreyas Gopal at the crease. The duo stitched together a huge 93-run partnership in just 48 balls that included a 21-run over of K Gowtham in the 18th over thanks to a couple of sixes from skipper Shreyas Gopal and one from Manohar. Naveen MG did justice to his captain’s decision of bringing him back to bowl the final over by picking up the wickets of both Manohar (50 runs off 25 balls) and Gopal (46 runs off 32 balls) as the Lions ended their innings on 176-5. Naveen was the pick of the bowling attack for the Dragons, finishing with figures of 4 for 19 in his quota of 4 overs.
The Mangaluru Dragons got off to a flier scoring 39 runs off their first four overs with Impact Player Rohan Patil (23 runs off 15 balls) leading the charge before debutant pacer Nischith Rao removed both openers within the space of 3 balls to halt the onslaught from the Dragons’ batters. Wickets kept falling at regular intervals as the Shivamogga lions’ spinners Shreyas Gopal, Pranav Bhatia and Deepak Devadiga tightened the noose on the Dragons’ batting line-up to have them reeling at 77-5 at the end of the eleventh over.
Requiring a hundred runs off the final 9 overs, the change in momentum was brought about by KV Siddharth who hit two consecutive sixes off the final two deliveries of the 12th over from Shreyas Gopal. This was followed by 21 runs in the 15th over bowled by Nischith Rao that included three sixes from the bat of seasoned campaigner Anirudha Joshi, whose half-century came in just 29 balls.
With just 38 runs required off the final 4 overs and two set batsmen at the crease, the odds began to favour the Dragons, however, top-quality death bowling from pacers V Koushik and Sharath HS coupled with the brilliance of Rohan Kadam in the field to dismiss Anirudha Joshi and K Gowtham ensured that the Shivamogga lions would go on to win the match by 9 runs.
Action will be broadcast live on Star Sports 2 and Star Sports Kannada, while the FanCode app will serve as the digital streaming partner. (ANI)