Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20: Young Punja masterminds Shivamogga Yodhas victory (ld)

Mysuru, June 20 (IANS) Shivamogga Yodhas made an impressive start on the opening day of the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 tournament in Mysuru on Saturday, beating Mysore Warriors by 90 runs after Bengaluru Blasters beat Gulbarga Mystics by six wickets in the first match on Saturday.

Chasing a stiff target of 191, the Warriors could hardly find their feet as they lost five wickets with less than 50 runs on the board in eight overs. Left-arm pacer Abhilash Shetty and left-arm spinner Shreesha Achar combined brilliantly to wreck early havoc from which the Warriors barely recovered before succumbing meekly.

Yash Raj Punja, a young, talented leg-spinner who impressed as an impact player for Rajasthan Royals in the 2026 IPL, made further inroads, claiming two wickets in his opening over for five runs.

Punja was not done yet. He ended the Warriors’ misery by dismissing the last man standing, Vyshak, leg before to complete brilliant figures of four for 30 in 3.5 overs.

Mysore Warriors were down for the count by the 10th over with just 60 runs on the board and only three wickets remaining.

The fact that only one batsman, S U Karthik (16), could reach double figures among the top order is clearly indicative of the mass failure of the Warriors’ batting line-up.

Thereon, the Yodhas completed the formalities without much fuss.

Asked to bat first, the Yodhas got off to a fine start with openers Luvnith Sisodia and Tushar Singh setting a hot pace with the intent to score off every delivery, good or bad, clear right from the first ball they faced.

They took calculated risks, rotated the strike with clever stroke play, and maintained a good strike rate, adding 79 runs for the opening wicket in 6.5 overs.

Sisodia, in particular, was in an aggressive mode right from the beginning. His timing of the ball was impeccable, while the placements were clever. His fine 58 of 38 balls included eight well-crafted boundaries and a six. Tushar Singh (33, 21 balls, 3 fours, 2 sixes) at the other end was equally effective in keeping the scoreboard ticking.

Skipper Smaran Ravichandran and Harshil Dharmani consolidated the innings further, contributing 36 runs each in the middle overs. Smaran’s 27-ball knock contained five boundaries while Harshil’s 19-ball cameo included two boundaries and three sixes.

But the later batters could not maintain the momentum and boost the total past the 200-mark. That barely mattered in the end as the Warriors’ batting line-up imploded.

Mysore Warriors captain Vyshak Vijaykumar and all-rounder Manoj Bhandage claimed two wickets each.

In the earlier match, Bengaluru Blasters scored a thrilling six-wicket victory over Gulbarga Mystics.

Brief scores:

Shivamogga Yodhas beat Mysore Warriors by 90 runs

Shivamogga Yodhas 190-8 in 20 overs (Luvnith Sisodia 58, Tushar Singh 33, Smaran Ravichandran 36, Harshill Dharmani 36; Vyshak Vijaykumar 2-38, Manoj Bhandage 2-16) beat Mysore Warriors 100 all out in 14.5 overs (SU Karthik 16, Ritesh Bhatkal 17; Abhilash Shetty 2-10, Shreesha Achar 2-9, Yash Raj Punja 4-30)

Gulbarga Mystics 201-5 in 20 overs (Lochan Gowda 17, Prakhar Chaturvedi 64, Aarav Mahesh 63, Manish Pandey 19, Tippa Reddy 20; Samit Dravid 1-31, Shubhang Hegde 2-44, Shreevathsa Acharya 2-36) lost to Bengaluru Blasters 202-4 20 overs (Bhuvan Mohan Raju 56, Rohan Patil 31, Krishnan Shrijith 22, Shubhang Hegde 36, Samit Dravid 11, Praveen Dubey 32 not out; Paras Gurbax Arya 2-34, Macneil Noronha 1-27, Dhruv Prabhakar 1-29).

–IANS

bsk/