Mysuru: Aniruddha Joshi cemented his position as a bona fide legend in KPL with one of the finest knocks under pressure as Mysore Warriors did the unthinkable in chasing 241 runs against Ballari Tuskers at the SDNR Wadiyar stadium.
Joshi's staggering 125 from 58 balls and an equally important nine-ball 30 from Manjesh Reddy helped the Warriors reach 241 for 7 in 20 overs in response to Tuskers' 240 for 2 in the allotted quota of overs in the 19th match of the Karnataka Premier League.
Tuskers won the toss, elected to bat and scored the second-highest score in KPL history on the back of a 92 not out from skipper CM Gautam. The Warriors stuttered to 34 for 3 before Joshi, the second-highest paid cricketer this season at Rs 7.1 lakhs, took the game away from Tuskers.
That said, when Joshi was dismissed by K Gowtham in the 18th over with the Warriors needing 42 from 18 balls, a significant portion of the 3000-odd people in the stands were beginning to file out.
They only rushed back in when Manjesh brought the equation down to 20 runs in the final over. M Venkatesh's four followed by his dismissal meant 16 runs were still required. The last four balls read: 2, 6, 2, 6. Manjesh faced each of them.
With this win, Warriors move to third on the table with six points from six games.
Tuskers, who had qualified for the playoffs before arriving in Mysore, had only a few overs ago scored the second-highest total in KPL history, eclipsing Bengaluru Blasters' 228 for 5 against Belagavi Panthers in 2018. The record for the highest score is still held by Hubli Tigers, who smashed 245 for 6 against the Rockstars in 2014.
While Gautam, the Tuskers' skipper, was the top-scorer with an innovative 92 from 50 balls and Devdutt Padikkal (57 from 31 balls) was on fire, it was Gowtham's 24-ball 48 that truly dented the Warriors.
Panthers qualify for play-offs
Earlier, Belagavi Panthers flexed their bowling might to jump to second on the points table after their seven-wicket win over Bijapur Bulls at the SDNR Wadiyar stadium in the Karnataka Premier League.
With Manish Pandey sitting this one out, Mir Kaunian Abbas reverted to his role as skipper and guided Panthers to their third successive win after restricting an off-colour Bulls to 136 for 8 in 20 overs.
The Panthers have guaranteed their presence in the playoffs at the end of the six games. At the other end of the spectrum, the Bulls are all-but out of the tournament with three points from five games.
Brief scores: Ballari Tuskers 240 for 2 in 20 overs (Abhishek Reddy 32, CM Gautam 92, K Gowtham 48, Devdutt Padikkal 57; Vyshak Vijaykumar 2-27) vs Mysuru Warriors 241 for 7 in 20 overs (Aniruddha Joshi 125, Manjesh Reddy 30 not out; Ruchir Joshi 2-44, K Gowtham 4-28) by three wickets
