Namma Shivamogga defeat Rockstars to maintain top spot in the KPL

Sadiq Kirmani won the Man of the Match award for his unbeaten knock of 87

Hubballi, Sept 8: The best opening wicket partnership from Sadiq Kirmani, who scored an unbeaten 87 and Samarth Ooty (51) saw Namma Shivamogga sashay their way to their third consecutive victory in the Karbonn Smart KPL 2015. The league’s newcomers defeated the Rockstars here in the first game on Tuesday to maintain the top spot.

Put into bat, a second wicket partnership worth 70 runs between opening batsman Rajeev (52) and No. 3 Madan Mohan (31) enabled the Rockstars post a challenging total. In a display which showed the Rockstars are improving with every game, Charan Teja hammered a 26-ball 41 that included three sixes and one four to prop up the Rockstars total.

Chasing 147 for victory, Namma Shivamogga were on song with Sadiq and Samarth getting into their groove quickly. The way the pair went on forced Rockstars skipper Sudeep to use as many as eight bowlers including himself.

Sadiq and Samarth were a treat for the crowd slamming the rival attack at will. While Sadiq hammered five fours and an equal number of sixes, Samarth smashed three fours and two sixes.

Sadiq Kirmani, Man of the Match, said: "We need to continue our winning streak. With three wins, we will need one more to be assured of a berth in the semis. W are happy with our batting but feel that we need to strengthen our bowling and fielding a bit. On a personal note, I am happy with my performance, especially with this knock."

Cruising along, Samarth fell in going for one too many shots with a victory well in sight and departed giving the Rockstars something to cheer. If that was not enough Kaunain Abbas became Kiccha Sudeep’s first victim. The skipper shrugged off his gloves and pads to roll his arm over and claimed Kaunain’s wicket to the glee of his team and fans in the stand.

Namma Shivamogga are perched pretty at the top of the table with six points to their name.

SCOREBOARD

Toss: Won by Namma Shivamogga; opted to field

Rockstars:

Rajeev H C Gulecha b Daivik 53 (37b, 8x 4, 1 x6); Sachin Joshi b A Sagar 2; Madan Mohan c J Abbas b Daivik 31 (39b, 1 x 4 1 x 6), Charan Teja c K Abbas b B Gulecha 41 (26b,1 x 4, 3 x 6) Rajkumar (not out) 9; C Raghu (not out) 2. Extras: (w-5, lb-3, nb-1) 9.

Total: (For eight wickets, 20 overs) 146.

Fall of wickets: 1-13 (Joshi); 2-83 (Rajev); 3-97 (15.4); 4-142 (Mohan).

Bowling: Aditya B Sagar 4-0-36-1; Bhavesh Gulecha 4-0-31-0; Shreyas Gopal 4-0-17-0; Davik Vishwanath 4-0-25-2; Sinan Abdul Khader 4-0-34-0.

Namma Shivamogga:

Sadiq Kirmani (N.O.) 87 (53b, 5 x 4. 5 x 6); Samarth Ooty 51 (40b, 3 x 4, 2 x 6); Kaunain Abbas c Sunil Joshi b K Sudeep 1; Dinesh Bowrankar (N.O.) 5. Extras: (w-2, lb-2) 4.

Total: (For two wickets, 16.3 overs) 148.

Fall of wickets: 1-129 (Ooty); 2-137 (Abbas).

Bowling: S Joshi 2-0-20-0; D Johnson 4-0-17-0; C Raghu 2-0-13-0; C Teja 2-0-16-0; Sachin Joshi 3-0-40-0; A Balakrishna 1-0-11-0; R Gowda 1.3-0-15-1; K Sudeep 1-0-4-1.

Result: Namma Shivamogga won by eight wickets.