Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20: Mangaluru Dragons triumph against Bengaluru Blasters

Bengaluru, Aug 21 (IANS) The Mangaluru Dragons led by Paras Arya (5-22) ran through the Bangalore Blasters batting line-up as they registered a comprehensive victory in their third game of the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20, beating Bengaluru Blasters by 31 runs.

Arya picked up the first five-wicket haul of the tournament to lead the Mangaluru Dragons to a comfortable victory over the Bengaluru Blasters

Asked to bat by Bengaluru Blasters’ captain Mayank Agarwal, the Mangaluru Dragons managed to score 46 runs in the Power-play with K.V. Siddharth (23) being the lone wicket to fall. 

Opener Rohan Patil (28) was then joined by B.R Sharath, who middled the ball from the get-go, as they raised 36 runs off 26 balls before Patil was trapped LBW by chinaman Sarfaraz Ashraf in the 10th over.

Sharath (21) and Gaurav Dhiman (11) were sent back to the pavilion in the 11th and 12th overs respectively as the Mangaluru Dragons slipped to 89/4. 

Aneeshwar Gautam (32) and Aniruddha Joshi (39) put together a partnership of 71 runs in 42 balls that proved vital in the context of the match following the mini-collapse that saw three wickets fall in as many overs.

Gautam was dismissed off the final ball of the penultimate over by T. Pradeep. Krishnappa Gowtham (0) didn’t trouble the scorers as he was removed by pacer LR Kumar, who also accounted for the wicket of Aniruddha Joshi in the final over that brought the Mangaluru Dragons 11 runs, taking them to 171-7. For the Bengaluru Blasters, Sarfaraz Ashraf (2-21), LR Kumar (2-27) and T Pradeep (2-34) picked two wickets apiece.

In reply, the Bengaluru Blasters were off to yet another poor start as Mangaluru Dragons spinner Anand Doddamani picked up the wickets of D. Nischal (9) and Jeswanth Acharya (0) off successive balls in the second over. Pavan Deshpande (4), Suraj Ahuja (5) and Mayank Agarwal (23) fell in the final two overs of the Power-play, which yielded 43 runs.

Mangaluru Dragons’ left-arm spinner Paras Arya continued to spin a web around the Bengaluru batters as he picked the wickets of Ashish Mahesh (11), Rishi Bopanna (0) and L.R Kumar (0) in the space of four balls to have the first five-wicket haul of the tournament to his name.

Shubhang Hegde (54* from 41 balls) and Sarfaraz Ashraf (23) put up a valiant fight, stitching together a partnership of 57 from 52 balls but reaching the target from a score of 57/8 proved to be a Herculean task. 

Despite an unbeaten half-century from Hegde with the support of the lower order, the Mangaluru Dragons went on to beat the Bengaluru Blasters by 31 runs.

Brief Scores:

Mangaluru Dragons 171/7 in 20 overs (Aniruddha Joshi 39, Aneeshwar Gautam 32; Sarfaraz Ashraf 2-21, LR Kumar 2-27, Pradeep 2-34) beat Bengaluru Blasters 140/9 in 20 overs (Shubhang Hegde 54*, Mayank Agarwal 23; Paras Arya 5-22, Anand Doddamani 2-20) by 31 runs.