KPL 2018: Bengaluru leg ends with last over thriller
After two relatively one-sided encounters on the first two days, the final day of Karnataka Premier League's Bengaluru leg saw an extremely close fought encounter between the home side Bengaluru Blasters and Ballari Tuskers.
The Blasters came out victorious, winning the match by six runs in the final over of the game.
After winning the toss and opting to field first, the Tuskers got off to a dream start, picking up three wickets in the first couple of overs, including the wicket of Robin Uthappa, who was the star in the first match. Pradeep T bowled an incredible spell first up, conceding just 2 runs in his first two overs, with all the three wickets to his name.
The Blasters kept losing wickets at regular intervals and none of the batsmen were able to stick around at the crease for a long time.
However, Arshdeep Singh Brar pulled things back for the home side as he took matters into his own hands and single-handedly took the Blasters to a good total of 167 in 20 overs.
He scored 67 in just 34 deliveries with one four and eight sixes to his name. Chethan William and Bharath Devaraj chipped in with some valuable runs as well.
In response, the Tuskers lost an early wicket, however, Devdutt Padikal and Rohan Kadam got them back on track with a 47 run partnership for the second wicket. After losing two wickets in one over to Bharath, the Tuskers were in a spot of bother.
They were revived by Abhinav Manohar who scored a fantastic half-century. However, the Blasters came back into the game with some tight bowling in the final few overs. Koushik bowled extremely well in the final over, defending 11 runs as he picked up two wickets and conceded just 5 runs.
This marks the end of the Bengaluru leg of the KPL. The matches will now shift to Hubli from August 19, before moving to Mysuru from August 28.