Mysore, Aug 18 (IANS) The defending champions, Mysore Warriors, were back to winning ways with a 39-run victory over the Bengaluru Blasters in the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 league in a rain-curtailed match here on Monday.

After Yashovardhan Parantap (39 off 21) made a vital contribution to bring the Mysore Warriors to 136/7 in 16 overs (match reduced to 16 overs an innings due to rain), the combination of youth and experience in Shikhar Shetty and K. Gowtham sliced through the Blasters’ batting unit to restrict them to 97/9.

The Blasters’ chase had a poor start with Chethan L.R. (0), Mayank Agarawal (1 off 3) and Bhuvan Raju (5 off 6) departing in quick succession. It was Shikhar Shetty, K. Gowtham, and Karthik C.A., who picked up a wicket each to leave the Blasters reeling at 8/3 in 2.4 overs.

The Blasters’ downfall continued as they lost three crucial wickets in the next five overs. Shikhar Shetty turned the screws with two more wickets, removing Naveen M.G. (9 off 7) and then striking again to send Suraj Ahuja (2 off 9) back to the pavilion. Opener Rohan Patil (10 off 12) struggled to get going until he was bowled by K. Gowtham, leaving the innings in disarray.

The Blasters needed 107 runs in the final eight overs with four wickets, and the equation proved too steep. Madhav Prakash Bajaj (34 off 20) fought back along with Shubhang Hegde (13 off 17) in a 37-run stand towards the end, but the Blasters wound up well short at 97/9 in 18 overs.

Put in to bat first, the Warriors made the most of the revised Power-play of 4.5 overs, collecting 57 runs for the loss of two wickets. Karthik S.U. (13 off 9) was trapped LBW by Vidyadhar Patil, while C.A. Karthik (20 off 8) launched two sixes and a four before he fell to Naveen MG.

Runs were hard to come by in the next phase of the innings as Harshil Dharmani (14 off 13) and Manish Pandey (12 off 13) were scalped by Shubhang Hegde and Mohsin Khan. At the halfway mark, the Warriors were 68/4.

Lankesh K.S. (15 off 18) was unable to replicate his form from last night and became Mohsin Khan’s second scalp of the innings as the spinner returned figures of 3/10 in his three overs. Yashovardan Parantap (39 off 21) provided a much-needed boost in the final few overs, thumping two fours and two sixes as he put on a 43-run partnership in 22 balls with Sumit (12* off 11). Parantap was looking dangerous but fell to Vidyadhar Patil when he holed out to Mohsin Khan in the penultimate over of the innings.

Prateek Jain took the onus of bowling the last over and only conceded six runs, including the run-out of K Gowtham (3 off 3) as the Warriors finished at 136/7 in the allotted 16 overs.

Brief scores :

Mysore Warriors 136/7 in 16 overs (Karthik CA 20, Yashovardhan Parantap 39; Vidhyadhar Patil 2-32, Mohsin Khan 2-10) beat Bengaluru Blasters 97/9 in 16 overs (Madhav Prakash Bajaj 34; K Gowtham 2/11, Shikhar Shetty 3/5) by 39 runs VJD Method.

–IANS

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