Mayank Agarwal sets up victory for Belagavi Panthers with first ton of KPL Season 4

Belagavi Panthers opener Mayank Agarwal celebrates after reaching his century

Hubballi, Sept 8: A brilliant century (103) by Mayank Agarwal, the first of this KPL season, saw Belagavi Panthers storm to a 70-run victory over Hubli Tigers in the second match on Tuesday at the Rajnagar Stadium. Hubli tried to make a match of chasing the Panthers’ 210 but fell terribly short due to stringent bowling by the Panthers.

Mayank and his opening partner, Abhishek Reddy, set the tone for Panthers with a 112 run opening wicket stand and skipper Vinay Kumar consolidated his team’s position with a pleasing 18-ball 35 to boost the total past 200, the highest of the season surpassing Mangalore United 191.

Hubli started the chase well but lost their way in the middle. Openers Taha (31) and KB Pawan (18) set the ball rolling with a 52-run first wicket partnership. But the rest of the batsmen could not call the shots over the rival bowlers and ultimately bowed don meekly. Chethan William held up one end knowing he was farming a lost cause.

This is one toss Sreenath Aravind will rue having won. Put into bat, the Panthers made merry with Mayank on the top of his game. The India ‘A’ opener did not have to look back as he milked the Tigers attack dry with a flourish of boundaries and seven huge and mighty sixes.

SCOREBOARD

Toss: Won by Hubli Tigers; opted to field

Belagavi Panthers:

Abhishek Reddy b Kranthi K 57 (38b, 4 x 4 2 x 6); Mayank Agarwal 103 (58b, 5 x 4 7 x 6); Pushtak Nag (run out) 9; R Vinay Kumar c KB Pawan b Kranthi K 35 (18b, 4 x 4 1 x 6); R Jonathan (N.O.) 1; Praveen Dubey (N.O) 0. Extras: (w-2, nb-1, lb-3) 6

Total: (For four wickets, 20 overs) 210.

Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Reddy)); 2-127 (Negi); 3-201 (Kumar); 4209 (Agarwal).

Bowling: Sreenath Aravind 4-0-36-0; Prateek Jain 4-0-54-0; B Naveen 3-0-28-0; Kranthi Kumar 4-0-38-3; Chetan Willaims 1-0-10-0; Shivil Kaushik 3-0-32-0; Dikshanshu Negi 1-0-9-0.

Hubli Tigers:

Mohammed Taha c Jonathan b P Dubey 31 (20b, 4 x 2, 2 x 6); K B Pawan c Sharath b P Dubey 18 (15b, 3 x 4); Kunal Kapoor c M Agarwal b V Prasad 15 (17b, 1 x 4); Dikshanshu Negi (run out) 3; Kranthi Kumar c Agarwal b Stalin Hoover 17 (15b, 2 x 4); Nithin Bhille c Pushtak b V Prasad 4; Chetan Williams c sub (Kondajji) b V Prasad 30 (25b, 3 x 4, 1 x6); Sreenath Aravind ; (run out) 2; B Naveen c P Dubey b R Vinay 11; Shivil Kaushi c Sub (Kondajji) b V Prasad 4; Prateek Jain (not out) 0. Extras: (b-1, w-3, lb-1) 5.

Total: (All out, 19.4 overs) 140.

Fall of wickets: 1-53 (Pawan); 2-53 (Taha), 3-58 (Negi); 4-48 (Kumar); 5-82 (Bhille); 6-93 (Kapoor); 7-106 (Aravind); 8-132 (Naveen); 9-140 (Williams).

Bowling: Vinay Kumar 4-0-32-1; Stalin Hoover 2-0-22-1; Praveen Dubey 4-1-24-2; HS Sharath 4-0-30-0; Vinu Prasad 3.4- 0-16-4; Abhishek Reddy 1-0-5-0; Mayank Agarwal 1-0-9-0.

Result: Belagavi Panthers won by 70 runs.