Dubai: The Aeroskop Karnataka Premier Cricket League (KPCL) continued to present plenty of nail-biting action and surprises as the tournament progressed into the third week. The weekend saw Autotech Moodbidri and ANIB XI on Top Mysore Royals advancing closer to the final rounds, defeating their rivals convincingly.
In the first match of the day, Autotech Moodbidri trounced Spiders Kundapura by a mammoth 94 runs. Winning the toss and electing to bat, Autotech Moodbidri posted a formidable 182 for 7 in their allotted 20 overs, thanks to a superb knock by UAE World Cup Player Krishna Chandran (62 in 45 balls, 2×6, 4×4) and well supported by Ubada (31 in 14 balls, 2×4, 2×6) and Prasanna (47 in 35 balls).
For Spiders, Prashanth Shetty (2-28) and Santosh Kotian (3-43) were the successful bowlers. Chasing a huge total, Spiders Kundapura crumbled to 88 all out in 15.1 overs, with Sudhesh(28) and Rohan Revankar(19) being the top scores. For Autotech Moodbidri, bowlers Sharan Pinto (2-21), Vikranth Shetty (5-8), Mohammed Asif (2-7) did most of the damage to the Spiders Kundapura batting line-up.
Vikranth Shetty (who represented the UAE in the World T20 Cup) of Autotech Moodbidri was adjudged the Man of Match for his tournament best figures of 3.1-0-8-5.
Vishal Karkera, CEO of Aeroskop SP Poland, said that the tournament was an important platform to promote local talent by giving them the opportunity to play under a world-class environment. “Over the past few weeks, we have witnessed a good number of all-round talent who have brought glory to the team and to the game of cricket. I am confident that in the next few weeks, we will be seeing a greater amount of intensity and competition in the tournament,” he added.
Tournament organizer and Karnataka Premier Cricket League Chairman Thomson D’Silva said that season 2 of the KPCL had reinforced the spectacular success of the previous season. “The participation from local teams has been greater than that of the first season, reassuring us that the state of Karnataka has a huge number of talented youngsters who love the game,” he pointed out.
The finals of the tournament will be played on February 12 and the well-known former Indian wicket-keeper Padma Shri Syed M. H. Kirmani will be the Chief Guest, who playedfor Karnataka in domestic cricket. Kirmani played for India from 1971 to 1986 and was also adjudged as the best wicket-keeper during the 1983 Prudential World Cup.
The second match of Week 3 sawANIB XI on Top Mysore Royals holding their nerves to defeat Prince XI Padubidri by 4 runs in a see-saw battle. After winning the toss, ANIB XI on TopMysore Royals elected to bat first and posted a challenging score of 170 in 20 overs, thanks to their consistent batsman Puneeth Kumar who scored 61 in 35 balls and well supported by Hari Prasad (36 in 39 balls). For Prince XI Padubidri, Mohammed Shafi (2-38) and Anfal Pallam(2-22) were among the wickets.
Chasing the stiff target set by ANIB XI on Top Mysore Royals, Prince XI Padubidri were on the hunt until the last ball with contributions from Tournament top scorer Anfal Pallam (52 in 37 balls), Hari Prashanth (34 in 20 balls), Ajith Rao (20 in 20 balls), but fell short by 4 runs in a high intensity contest. For ANIB XI On Top Mysore Royals, Sarosh Kadalilae (3-25), Ranjith Mani (2-29) got the breakthroughs needed to stop Prince XI Padubidri from reaching the target.
Puneeth Kumar of ANIB XI on Top Mysore Royals was adjudged Man of Match for his outstanding batting performance.
