Kalaburagi XI 154/9 in 20 overs (Rahul 60, Syed 43, Sanjay 4/19) defeated Raichur XI 135/9 in 20 overs (Sharabanna 44, Vijaykumar 23, Sharan 4/19) by 19 runs
The split table tournaments are always interesting. With less league games, less number of days, fast packed cricket and no chances of recovery, only best can survive. The Finals of such tournaments produce mouthwatering encounters at times.
Organized by NV Gymkhana Cricket Wing and sponsored by Oxypearl Pakaged drinking water, the tournament saw 6 teams, split across two groups in the Hyderabad Karnataka T-20 Cricket tournament-2019 thrill the spectators with some A grade summer bonanza. Five action packed days at Syed Akbar Husaini Turf ground and KBN Turf ground were followed by many at cricheeros.
The toppers from group A, Kalaburagi XI were facing the Raichur XI who topped the group B. Both these teams destroyed their opposition in the league phase. Although the Semi finals bought up some breathtaking games, both these teams came out on top due to their ability to deal with pressure in a much better than their opposition.
Kalaiburga XI won the toss and asked their openers to pad up, and why not? They had two of their batsmen leading the charts for runs. The openers gave them a flying start as Rahul (60) and Syed (43) started carting the bowlers all around the park from very first over. The powerplays bought up 57 runs for the Kalaiburga XI. Some respite came in for Raichur XI when Vijay had Syed caught at mid wicket by Nayak in the 8th over but the home team looked well set to achieve a massive first inning total.
Unfortunately for the Kalaiburga XI, their middle order failed to capitalize on the start provided by their openers. They failed to build any substantial partnerships in the middle overs and failed to accelerate in the slog overs either. They could manage only thirty runs of last five overs while suffering a massive collapse. The 17th over bought four wickets for Raichur XI and dismantled any hopes of a big total. Sanjay finished with the figures of 4-0-19-4, three of his wicket came in the seventeenth over.
If you go through the scorecards of the tournament, you will realize that 155 was always a challenging total. The only team that could chase a target of 150 or more in the entire tournament was Kalaiburga XI themselves. Although Raichur XI chased down 141 in the league phase against Koppal XI, they had a completely different scenario and opponent here.
The last thing you want while chasing a target in a final is having both your openers dismissed for a duck. The Raichur XI lost both their openers in the very first over. Just when a partnership was building between Mayur and Ajay, Shatran came back for his third over and got rid of Ajay. Sanjay failed to make a mark as he became first victim of Ganesh and Mayur’s struggles were over soon after. The game was almost over when Ganesh claimed his second victim in the form of Vijay to leave Raichur XI reeling at 46 for 6.
With the target as far as 108 runs away, a required run rate of 9.72 and six of the top batsmen back in the hut, it was all but over for Raichur XI. A massive defeat was inevitable but Sharabanna (44 off 36) dared to dream against all the odds. He stitched down a couple of partnerships in twenties to ensure that Raichur XI will lose it with some prestige in their bag at least. Some late blows from Vijaykumara (23 off 8, 2*4, 2*6) ensured that Raichura got close to the target set by Kalaiburga XI but in the end, too many runs were left for these lower order batsmen to pull out any kind of a heist.
