Hubli: In the first semi-final of the ongoing Karnataka Premier League, Belagavi Panthers have crushed thier opposition Bijapur Bulls by a huge margin of 54 runs.
Batting first after losing the toss, the Belagavi Panthers managed to put up a score of 173/6 in their allotted 20 overs. This was led by an unbeaten 57 by S Raju, 31 and 24 from K Gowtham and M Abbas respectively. On the bowling front for the Bulls, KC Cariappa got 2 for 29, A Mithun and KP Appana got a wicket each for 24 and 28 respectively.
In response, while the Bijapur Bulls had a good opening over, they soon begin to struggle due to the regular loss of wickets. Bad calls during running resulted in a few more wickets tumbling unnecessarily as the team soon succumbed to the pressure. The fielding of the Belagavi Panthers was top-notch and they spared no effort in ensuring that the pressure was constantly on the Bulls. N Singh was the high scorer for the Bulls with 27, followed by KP Appanna with 24 not out. The bowling by the Panthers was supreme, and B Naveen managed to wrest 4 wickets from the Bulls while giving away just 13 runs. Vinay Kumar picked up 2 crucial wickets for 26 runs, and S Hoover got a wicket for 15 runs.
Courtesy this win, the Belagavi Panthers are now the first team to progress into the finals of this edition of KPL. They will now have to wait till the end of the day to see who they will face in the finals tomorrow, as the second semi-final is scheduled to be held shortly.
For this match, the awards are as follows:
Purple Cap – P Naveen (Belagavi Panthers)
Kamaal Catch – NC Aiyappa (Belagavi Panthers)
Best Fielder – S Srijith (Bijapur Bulls)
Trusted Player – Vinay Kumar (Belagavi Panthers)
Man of the Match – Sunil Raju (Belagavi Panthers)
The second semi-final is being played between Mangalore United and Mysore Warriors. Newskarnataka will bring you live updates from that match as it happens.
