Bengaluru, July 11 (IANS) Shivamogga Yodhas stormed into the final of the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 tournament following a comprehensive four-wicket victory over the Coastal Kings Mangaluru at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday.

A four-wicket haul from Dhanush Gowda and two-wicket hauls from Shreesha Achar and Naveen MG restricted the Coastal Kings Mangaluru to 143/8 before Aneesh KV’s 55* off 39 composed half-century, aided by a vital contribution from Sujay Sateri (31 off 25), took the Yodhas home.

In the second innings, Santok Singh’s double blow gave the Coastal Kings a promising start. Singh accounted for Luvnith Sisodia (14 off 13) and Tushar Singh (14 off 10) while Prithviraj dismissed Naveen MG to leave the Yodhas at 41-3 inside five overs.

It was Aneesh KV who steadied the innings with a match-winning knock, cracking regular boundaries to stay ahead of the required run-rate. He combined with Harshil Dharmani (13 off 14) for 31 runs before Prithviraj struck again to remove Dharmani in the 10th over.

Sujay Sateri joined Aneesh at the crease just as the latter began to assert himself. Aneesh went from 20 runs in 21 deliveries to bring up a 31-ball half-century. The pair’s 70-run stand in 47 balls was enough to steer the Yodhas to victory in 18.4 overs.

Dhanush Gowda was lethal in the first innings, ensuring the Coastal Kings suffered a setback every time they built a significant partnership. Dhanush Gowda first removed Pavan Prajwal (8 off 11) to break the opening stand of 35 runs.

Opener Nikin Jose (34 off 25) had anchored the innings but was castled by Shreesha Achar in the eighth over. Karun Nair (41 off 31) played a measured knock studded with a four and three sixes to take the Coastal Kings through the middle overs. In the biggest partnership of the innings, Shreyas Gopal (13 off 16) put on 39 runs with Nair before he became Achar’s second wicket of the day.

At the 15-over mark, Coastal Kings Mangaluru were 109-4 but quickly slumped to 123-8 in the 18th over as Dhanush Gowda returned to remove Karun Nair, Suraj Ahuja (9 off 10), and Rajvir Wadhwa (9 off 5) in quick succession. Prithviraj Shekhawat (12 off 10) contributed important runs late in the innings to help the Kings post a competitive total.

Brief scores:

Shivamogga Yodhas 144/6 in 18.4 overs (Aneesh KV 55 not out, Sujay S 31; Santokh Singh 3-30) beat Coastal Kings Mangaluru 143/8 in 20 overs (Karun Nair 41, Nikin Jose 34; Dhanush Gowda 4-21, Shreesha Achar 2-19, Naveen MG 2-25) by 4 wickets.

–IANS

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