CCL 2023: Chennai Rhinos stand no chance against the invincible Karnataka Bulldozers

The second match of the day, was the highlight of the day, with home team Karnataka Bulldozers taking on the Chennai Rhinos. Playing to a packed stadium, the Bulldozers sent the Rhinos in to bat after winning the toss. The Rhinos had Ramanna and Vikrant open their innings, which got off to a good start, thanks to some wayward bowling by Pradeep and J Karthik initially, but the Bulldozers bounced back soon enough, with some great fielding, which restricted the batting team to 84 for 2 wickets in their 10 overs.

In response, skipper Pradeep Bogadi and Darling Krishna came in, and the latter was literally on fire from the start, hammering Vishnu Vishal for 19 runs in the third over of the innings, which included three boundaries and a six. Not to be left behind, Pradeep also let his bat do the talking and the duo remained unbeaten at the end of their 10 overs, powering the Bulldozers to a total of 109, and a lead of 25 runs over the Rhinos.

In their second innings, the Rhinos were on a mission – get to a decent total. And they did it, managing 125 for six wickets in their 10 overs, which included 16 extras. The Bulldozers needed 101 for a win.

Arun Bachchan, who came in at number 4 after the Bulldozers lost opener Rajeev Hanu and Kiccha Sudeep, literally made mincemeat of the Rhinos bowling, getting a whopping 29 runs in the sixth over, which took him to 44 of 13 balls at the time, and the team to only 30 runs short of the target with four overs to spare. While J Karthik supported him well with 33 of 23, Bachchan was in no mood to slow down, remaining unbeaten at 57 of 18 balls and guiding the team to victory with nearly two overs to spare.

With this win, the Karnataka Bulldozers are now at the top of the points table and a confirmed semi-finalist. They have one more league match against Punjab De Sher on March 11 in Jodhpur.

This edition of CCL is being placed as T-20 matches in test format, with each team playing two sets of 10 overs each. The matches are being live telecast on the official YouTube channel of the organizers, as well as on Zee5.