Mangalore United crowned KPL II Champions

Bangalore - Mangalore United have been crowned the new champions of Karnataka Premiere League (KPL) after their sensational win against Provident Bangalore in the final match held at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Wednesday, September 29.

Batting first, Mangalore United got to a dismal start with both their star openers Rohit Sabarwal and Bharat Chipli returning to pavilion in quick succesion. Sabarwal was bowled by Jagan at the score of 10 and Chpli was sent back at the score of 6. Both these batsmen had made merry in the semi final match against Davangere Diamonds earlier in the day with half centuries.

Following their fall, Mangalore United kept losing wickets at regular intervals with only Karun Nair (21) and G Nidhuvan (20) showing some resistance. Jonathan too could only manage 16. For Provident Bangalore, Jagan and A Shetty took 2 wickets each. At the end of 20 overs, Mangalore Utd could only manage 112 at the loss of 9 wickets.

When Provident Bangalore came out to bat, it looked as though they would be comfortably defending the title and would be crowned champions for the second time in a row. However, Mangalore United spinners left the Provident Bangalore batsmen clueless with their line and length taking wickets every now and then. With the fall of every wicket, pressure kept building on the Provident side and they were finally bundled out with 44 runs still to get. Udit Patel bowled a magical spell of 4/11 while Karun Nair achieved figures of 4/13. Daniel Sequiera and S Aravaind got a wicket apiece.

Karun Nair was adjudged the Man of the Match for his contribution with the bat as well as the ball. Mayank Agarwal was honoured with the Player of the Tournament award.

Unable to hide his excitement and joy, Moideen Bawa, the owner of Mangalore United said that the victory of Mangalore United has shown what unity is all about. On the occasion, he dedicated the victory to Mangaloreans living in Mangalore and other places such as the gulf countries. "Our region has always been number one in terms of education, banking and so on. But it was in news for wrong reasons such as communal unrest off late. Today, my dream to show that our Mangalore is united has come true", Bawa said.

source: CD Network