KPL 2016: Praveen Dubey, Mayank Agarwal power Belagavi Panthers to win

Hubbali, September 20: Mayank Agarwal and Vinay Kumar stitched together an 81-run partnership in 65 balls to make light work of the 126-run target as Belagavi Panthers beat Namma Shivamogga by eight wickets in the fifth edition of the Karbonn KPL powered by Cycle Pure Agarbathies at the KSCA stadium in Rajnagar on Tuesday afternoon.

Chasing a modest total of 125, Mayank, in excellent form of late, made a punishing unbeaten 69 (47b, 2x6, 5x4) and in the company of Vinay Kumar (40; 37b, 1x6, 4x4) put the Panthers on the road to victory. That came soon enough, in the 17th over and at the expense of just two wickets.

Earlier, Namma Shivamogga, opting to bat first, were dealt an early blow when opener Sadiq Kirmani taking his chances very early in the innings holed out in only the second over bowled by HS Sharath.

Captain Stuart Binny and Nikin Jose then steadied the ship by rotating strike regularly. But just when a partnership seemed to be taking shape, Nikin Jose (14; 18b, 2x4) and Stuart Binny (29; 27b, 1x6, 4x4) fell in quick succession, leaving Shivamogga reeling at 51 for 3 in 8.4 overs.

Pawan Deshpande (23; 17b, 1x6, 1x4) tried to offer some resistance but fell to man of the match Praveen Dubey in the 15th over. It was all downhill from there for Shivamogga, as Dubey (4/19), Pradeep T (1/14) and Vinay Kumar (1/15) shared the bowling honours to restrict the opposition to 125 in 19.5 overs.

It was disappointing batting by the Shivamogga team and they paid the price for it.

Brief Scores:

Namma Shivamogga: 125 in 19.5 overs (Stuart Binny 29, Pawan Deshpande 23; Praveen Dubey 4/19) lost to Belagavi Panthers: 126/2 in 16.5 overs (Mayank Agarwal 69 n.o, Vinay Kumar 40, Praveen Dubey 4/19, T Pradeep 1/14) by 8 wickets.

All matches of the Karbonn KPL 2016 will be telecast live and exclusive on Sony ESPN SD and Sony ESPN HD Channels.