Mangaluru Dragons registered their first victory in the second edition of the Shriram Capital Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20. Wicket-keeper batsman BR Sharath lit up the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru with 9 fours and 5 sixes on his way to an unbeaten century, supported by opener Rohan Patil who scored a breezy 54 runs to ensure they chased down the target of 202 runs with five wickets to spare.

First Inning | Mangaluru Dragons vs Mysuru Warriors

The trend of winning the toss and bowling first continued as the Mangaluru Dragons skipper K Gowtham put the Mysuru Warriors in to bat first on a sunny afternoon. Opener CA Karthik was off the blocks and running in no time as he raced to a quickfire 29 runs off 18 balls helping the Warriors end the powerplay at a score of 54-2.

The fall of both the openers within the powerplay didn't hamper the Mysuru Warriors' progress as captain Karun Nair and southpaw Rahul Rawat kept the scoreboard ticking by adding 47 runs off 35 balls for the third wicket before the latter was stumped off the bowling of K Gowtham.

In walked Tushar Singh, who put on a partnership of 55 runs off 37 deliveries with captain Karun Nair who was at his finest. Singh was then dismissed by a bouncer from Aditya Goyal in the 18th over. Nair continued undeterred, tearing the bowling attack apart with a variety of crafty shots as he scored 77 runs off just 39 balls. Big-hitting Manoj Bhandage provided the perfect finishing touches scoring an unbeaten 10 ball 26 with two fours and two sixes to take the Warriors to a mammoth 201-5 in their 20 overs that included 52 runs in the final three overs.

Read Also: "Don't be surprised, the game evolves all the time" – Ravi Shastri gives his verdict on the super-sub rule

Second Inning | Mangaluru Dragons vs Mysuru Warriors

In the second innings, the early departure of MG Naveen was the only positive for the Mysuru Warriors in the powerplay that saw the Mangaluru Dragons score 73 runs with both Rohan Patil, the Impact Player, and BR Sharath finding the boundary with remarkable ease. The duo added 96 runs off 52 balls before Jagadeesha Suchith picked the wicket of Patil who had raced his way to 54 runs from 27 balls.

BR Sharath continued his destruction of the Mysore Warriors bowling line-up, reaching his half-century in 33 balls with a six. He followed that up with three sixes in the thirteenth over of leg-spinner Kushal Wadhwani, who was the Impact Player for the Warriors. The fall of batsman Aneeshwar Gautam (6) to Jagadeesha Suchith brought KV Siddharth (14) to the crease who was looking good until he was out caught and bowled by Shreesha Achar.

BR Sharath was dropped on 99 by CA Karthik and he made full use of the reprieve to bring up the first century of the tournament in 57 balls. Anirudha Joshi (2) fell to pacer M Venkatesh in the 19th over trying to finish the match with a six. Krishnappa Gowtham (5) came in with the Mangaluru Dragons requiring just 5 runs to win off 9 balls and he made no fuss of it with the Dragons winning by 5 wickets and 7 balls to spare with Sharath remaining unbeaten on 111 from a mere 61 deliveries.

Brief Scores | Mangaluru Dragons vs Mysuru Warriors

Mangaluru Dragons won by 5 wickets and 7 balls to spare

Mysuru Warriors - 201/5 in 20 overs (Karun Nair- 77 off 39 balls, Codanda Ajit Karthik - 29 off 18 balls, Manoj Bhandage - 26 off 10 balls, Krishnappa Gowtham - 1/30, Prateek Jain - 1/35, Naveen MG - 1/42, Aditya Goyal - 1/49)

Mangaluru Dragons 202/5 in 18.5 overs - (Sharath BR - 111* off 61 balls, Rohan Patil - 54 off 27 balls, KV Siddharth - 14 off 9 balls, Muralidhara Venkatesh - 2/36, Jagadeesha Suchith - 2/37, Shreesha Achar - 1/23)

The Shivamogga Lions prevailed over the Gulbarga Mystics in a final over thriller to win their third consecutive game in the Shriram Capital Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20, powered by Fancode. Chasing an imposing target of 176, they were reduced to 39-5, before contributions from Shreyas Gopal (52), Abhinav Manohar (28), S Shivraj (27) and HS Sharath (31) took them home from a difficult position. They chased down the target in 19.5 overs with three wickets in hand.

First inning: Shivamogga Lions vs Gulbarga Mystics

Asked to bat first by the Shivamogga Lions' skipper Shreyas Gopal, the Gulbarga Mystics were off to a disastrous start with LR Chethan run out by a direct hit from Kranthi Kumar in the very first over of the match. The Shivamogga bowlers piled on the dot balls and in a bid to break free from the pressure, Sourabh Muttur fell to V Koushik. However, a few boundaries from opener Aadarsh Prajwal (43) helped his team recover to a score of 35-2 at the end of the powerplay.

The tenth over bowled by pacer HS Sharath fetched Gulbarga 23 runs with two fours coming from southpaw R Smaran (40) and a six from Aadarsh Prajwal, taking them to 86-2 after 10 overs. The two added 77 runs off 47 balls for the third wicket before a watchful Prajwal (43 runs off 41 balls) was dismissed by Kranthi Kumar in the 13th over. The next over saw Shivamogga skipper Shreyas Gopal remove Smaran (40 runs off 28 balls) leaving the team in a precarious position at 107-4 after 14 overs.

Shivamogga pacer Kranthi Kumar came back to get rid of Amit Verma (10) and Macneil Noronha (16) to finish with figures of 3/17 in his four overs. Srinivas Sharath (22* off 11 balls) and D Avinash (19*off 9 balls) made the death overs their own putting together an unbeaten partnership of 38 runs from 17 balls to propel Shivamogga to175-6 in 20 overs.

Read Also: Maharaja Trophy T20: Runs Galore as BR Sharath's masterful century stewards Mangaluru Dragons to victory over the Mysuru Warriors

Second inning: Shivamogga Lions vs Gulbarga Mystics

In the second innings, the Gulbarga bowlers were all over the Shivamogga Lions, picking up five wickets with skipper Vyshak Vijaykumar and the leading wicket-taker of the tournament Abhilash Shetty picking two wickets apiece. Sharan Goud also got the crucial wicket of Kranthi Kumar to have Shivamogga struggling at 43-5 after 6 overs.

Skipper Shreyas Gopal (52) and Abhinav Manohar (28) then steadied the ship by rotating strike and put together a partnership of 71 runs in 57 balls. In the 14th over, Gopal took young left-arm spinner Hardik Raj for 18 runs and reached his half-century in the process before being caught deep off the final delivery leaving the team with 66 runs to get in the final six overs.

S Shivraj (27* off 17 balls) came in and found boundaries immediately before Abhinav Manohar was dismissed by D Avinash to bring HS Sharath to the crease. The tall pacer from Mandya played a match-winning inning of 31* runs from just 11 deliveries with two fours and three sixes to take the Shivamogga Lions past the target with three wickets and one ball to spare.

Brief Scores | Shivamogga Lions vs Gulbarga Mystics

Shivamogga Lions won by 3 wickets.

Gulbarga Mystics- 175/6 in 20 overs (Aadarsh Prajwal - 43 off 41 balls, Smaran R - 40 off 28 balls, Srinivas Sharath - 22* off 11 balls, Kranthi Kumar - 3/17, Shreyas Gopal - 1/29, V Koushik - 1/47)

Shivamogga Lions - 179/7 in 19.5 overs (Shreyas Gopal - 52 off 37 balls, HS Sharath - 31* off 11 balls, Abhinav Manohar - 28 off 32 balls, S Shivaraj - 27* off 17 balls, Vijaykumar Vyshak - 2/25, Abhilash Shetty - 2/45, Sharan Goud - 1/29)

The Mangaluru Dragons and the Shivamogga Lions faced off against each other to kick off their inaugural campaigns in the Shriram Capital Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20, powered by Fancode. 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 a wickets, courtesy; openers Rohan Kadam (27 runs off 25 balls) and wicket keeper- 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.

Read Also: Major League Cricket 2023: MI New York beat the Seattle Orcas by seven wickets to win the inaugural edition

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 in to 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.

Brief Scores:
Shivamogga Lions won by 9 runs

Shivamogga Lions- 176/5 in 20 overs (Abhinav Manohar - 50 off 25 balls, Shreyas Gopal - 46 off 32 balls, Nihal Ullal - 28 off 19 balls, M.G. Naveen - 4/19, Aditya Goyal - 1/19)

Mangaluru Dragons- 167/7 in 20 overs (Anirudha Joshi - 50 off 31 balls, K.V. Siddarth - 46* off 35 balls, Rohan Patil - 23 off 15 balls, Pranav Bhatia 2/21, Nischith - 2/28, H.S. Sharath - 1/29)