Bijapur Bulls defend modest target

SP Manjunath of Bellary Tuskers looks to heave his team out of trouble off left-arm spinner Appanna

Hubballi, September 04, 2015: That small totals are a challenge to chase was underlined in the third match of the Karbonn Smart KPL 2015 tie between Bellary Tuskers and Bijapur Bulls at the Rajnagar Stadium on Friday.

Chasing Bijapur Bulls’ 125, Bellary Tuskers made heavy weather of the target, finally succumbing to be all out for 109 to hand Bulls a 16-run victory in the two teams’ opening game.

The chase itself began on the wrong note when Chipli was run out off the seventh ball. The Tuskers did not ever recover after that though left-hander Amit Verma (26)and Aniruddha Joshi (30) made decent contributions to ensure the team got past the hundred mark.

In hind sight, the Bulls’ spinners showed a more positive approach with Cariappa and Appanna claiming three wickets apiece.

Man of the Match Cariappa felt that they entire team played as a unit. He said, “Defending a low score I thought that we bowled very well and in tandem with one another. We didn’t give away too many boundaries either.”

Put into bat, Bijapur Bulls had themselves to blame for the plight they got into. There were no devils on the pitch nor were their bowlers to carry them. Yet, they squandered their chances.

Just three batsmen managed to cross 20 runs including the openers. Indiscreet shots cost them dear and were it not for skipper B Akhil and speedster A Mithun, who stitched together the team’s highest partnership; 27runs for the eighth wicket, things could have been more different for the team.

Prasidh Krishna managed to claim three for 24 from his five overs and Prasanna Patil managed o share five wickets amongst themselves.

SCOREBOARD

Bijapur Bulls:

R Samarth c SK Manjunath b P Krishna 17 (15b, 3 x 4); Rajoo Bhatkal ; Robin Uthappa ;b P Krishna 9; Deepaak Chougle b P Krishna 5; Suneel Raju (run out) 6; M Nidish st D Patil b A Verma 0; B Akhil b CA Karthik 25 (28b, 1 x 4); Vysak Vijaykumar c A Joshi b P Patil 14 (11b, 1 x 4); A Mithun (not out) 16 (13b 1 x 6); KC Cariappa (not out) 7; Extras: (w-4, lb-1) 5.

Total: (For eight wickets, 20 overs) 125

Fall of wickets: 1-23 (Samarth); 2-47 (Bhatkal); 3-47 (Uthappa); 4-53 (Raju); 5-53 (Nidish); 6-59 (Chougle); 7-84 (14.6) (Vijaykumar), 8-111 (Akhil).

Bowling: NC Aiyappa 4-0-27-0; Prasidh Krishna 4-0-24-3; CA Karthik 4-0-27-1; Prasanna Patil 4-0-25-2; Amit Verma 4-0-21-1.?

Bellary Tuskers:

D Nischal c Uthappa b V V Kumar 6; Bharat Chipli (run out) 0; Amit Verma c Samarth b KC Cariappa 26 (29b, 4 x 4); Pavan Deshpande b VV Kumar 1; Aniruddha Joshi c M Nidish b KC Cariappa 30 (31b, 1 x 4, 1 x 6); Devraj Patil c KC Cariappa b KP Apanna 14; SP Manjunath C S Raju b KP Apanna 17 (18b, 3 x 4); CA Karthik c Samarth b KC Cariappa 0; Prasanna Patil b S Raju 9; NC Aiyappa c Uthappa b Apanna 0; Prasidh Patil ( not out) 1. Extras: (b-1, w-5, nb-1) 7

Total: (all out 19.5 overs) 109.

Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Chipli); 2-17 (Nischal); 3- 28 (Deshpande); 4-42 (Verma); 5-58 (Patil); 6-81 (Karthik); 7-81 (Patil); 8- 102 (Aiyappa) 9-103 (Manjunath).

Bowling: Abhimanyu Mithun 3-0-18-0; Vyshak Vijay Kuar 3-0-26-2; Suneel Raju 2.5 -0-91-1; B Akhil 3-0-24-0; KC Cariappa 4-0-14-3; KP Apanna 4-0-17-3.

Toss: Won by Bellary Tuskers; opted to field

Bijapur Bulls won by 16 runs.