Mangaluru, Dec 30: Ritesh Bhatkal-led coastaldigest.com clinched the Mangalore Premier League-2016 title after humbling Maestro Titans in an almost one-sided encounter at Dr B R Ambedkar Stadium in Panambur, here on Friday under floodlights.
In spite of a slow flow of runs from both teams, it was a high-quality match which had a few unexpected twists and it turned out to be a microcosmic glimpse of previous performances of the two finalists in general and the two skippers in particular.
Eventually, it seemed that Maestro Titans bowling was just too weak to defend a miserable total of 119 as men-in-blue exhibited a powerhouse performance throughout the match despite the failure of a couple of promising batsmen.
The joy of the toss win did not last long for Titans as Mukka Express proved the captain Akshay Ballal's decision absolutely wrong by dismissing both the openers — Rohan Kadam (0) and Vishwanath (4) — in his very first over.
At this stage, man-of-the-series Ballal shouldered the responsibility of preventing an early collapse of his team and smashed a brilliant 41 off 20 balls comprising three massive sixes and a same number of authoritative fours. However, he had to surrender his wicket to spinner Vishwas H.
When Lokesh (20 off 33 balls) tried to come to the rescue of his embattled team, Ritesh Bhatkal sent him back to the dugout. Claiming three wickets each, Vishwas and Shreesha destroyed thehigh score dream' of Titans as they were bowled out for a meagre score in 18th over.
Chasing an easy score, coastaldigest.com opener Mohammed Taha (13 off 5 balls) smashed three powerful boundaries but lost his wicket when the team's score was just 17. Satya Swaroop's sudden dismissal (5 off 9 balls) and all-rounder Aditya Somanna's unexpected duck-out gave a major blow to the team when the other opener Rishab GM was in need of a suitable partner.
At this juncture man-of-the-match Ritesh Bhatkal joined Rishab and literally played the captain's knock. His gusty 37 off 32 balls brought the match under his team's control. On the other hand Rishab's unbeaten 52 off 54 balls powered coastaldigest.com to a six wicket win over Titans.
Brief Score
Maestro Titans 119/all-out (17.5 over): Akshay Ballal 41; Lokesh 20; Sinan Abdul Khader 12
Arif Mukka 2-0-30-2, Vishwas H 4-0-17-3; Shreesha 2-0-14-1 ; Ritesh Bhatkal 4-0-25-1
Coastaldigest.com 120/4 (18.3 overs): Rishab GM 52*; Ritesh Bhatkal 37
Akshay Ballal 4-0-18-2; Rajath Hegde 2-0-14-1
The kidnapped schoolboy was rescued by the police and reunited with his parents. Son of a gift shop owner from Basavanagudi area in Bengaluru, Chirag has reportedly told police that decided to make some quick money to spend on cricket betting and gambling after learning kidnap tricks from the ‘Crime Patrol’. According to police, Chirag reached a private school around 3pm on Tuesday on a Bounce rental bike and zeroed in on a fourth standard student who was walking out of school. He told the boy he was his father's friend and that he required help to search for a relative who had gone missing. The boy believed Chirag and rode pillion on the bike. Chirag then engaged the boy in conversation and learnt about his father's business and got his mobile phone number. He then made a call to the boy's father, demanded Rs 5 lakh and warned him against approaching cops. However, the boy's father alerted Cottonpet police and special teams were formed to crack the case. While Cottonpet inspector Venkatesh TC's squad verified CCTV footage in and around the school, Chamarajpet inspector BG Kumaraswamy's team started tracking the suspect's mobile phone movements. An hour later, the suspect's location was traced to a hotel on the Lavelle Road-St Mark's Road stretch. Police rushed there, rescued the boy and arrested Chirag.
Comments
congats Coastal digest ,.. they played wonderfull through out the tournament.
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