PremiumCCL 2024: Karnataka Bulldozers trounce Chennai Rhinos; secure third straight win
Two teams that had won both their group stage matches facing off against each other, the Chennai Rhinos vs Karnataka Bulldozers – Match 11 was quite one-sided, in favour of the Bulldozers
Last Updated: 11.39 PM, Mar 03, 2024
Chennnai Rhinos skipper Arya won the toss and decided to bowl first, a decision that the Karnataka Bulldozers made him regret and how. In a match in which the highest innings score was set twice by the Bulldozers, the Chennai Rhinos became the first team to be bowled out in an innings, and a Bulldozers bowler got a hattrick, everything was going the way of Kiccha Sudeep and his team.
It was almost as if the Chennai Rhinos could not do anything right and, in the process, they were handed a defeat so massive that it would be difficult to recover from. And to think that the Chennai Rhinos walked on to the field at the top of the points table after two wins and the best run rate so far.
When Darling Krishna offers a fielder a chance of a catch or a run out, you’ve got to absolutely make it happen, else the most in-form batsman of the tournament is going to demolish the bowling order. That’s pretty much what the actor did in the first innings of the Karnataka Bulldozers’ match. Skipper Pradeep Bogadi was back in action and while he let Krishna do most of the heavy lifting, every now and then he too chipped in with the big hits or the sneaky 1s and 2s that they ran beautifully.
Chasing a 100+ score is a tall order even for the most formidable team and the opening partnership put on 115 runs, before Krishna got bowled out in the 8th over for 57 runs. Although they lost another wicket and the run rate dropped a tad, the Bulldozers still posted the highest innings score yet in the tournament, getting to 137 for the loss of 2 wickets only in their first set of 10 innings.
Before the Rhinos got their first breakthrough, the projected score at the ongoing run-rate was in the vicinity of 170, and while they prevented that, chasing 137 and getting a lead was going to be a tough task. So, what did Arya and his band of boys do? Well, they played right into the hands of the bowling side becoming the first team to be bowled out within the stipulated 10 overs. All of team Chennai Rhinos was back in the dug-out for a sum total of 84 runs.
Coming back for their second innings, the Karnataka Bulldozers were in no mood to take it slow or easy. They were at it all guns blazing from the word go. They just went ahead and bettered the highest innings score in the tournament that they had set a little while ago finishing their 10 overs at a mammoth 148/3, and a lead of 201 runs over the Rhinos.
The Bulldozers’ batsmen were, no doubt, brilliant, especially Rajeev with a brilliant knock of 63 from 25 balls, but this massive target was also a result of some very sloppy bowling and fielding on the part of the Rhinos, who dropped catches, failed to stop boundaries and even assisted the ball on the way to the rope.
Chasing 202 for a win, the Chennai Rhinos knew it was a lost cause from the start, but that was not going to stop them from at least trying to reduce the margin of defeat. The batsmen were a lot more disciplined this time around and made bat-to-ball contact, dispatched it to the boundary and beyond, all without losing too many wickets. But none of that was going to be enough and all that they could muster was 134/3.
The Karnataka Bulldozers vs Chennai Rhinos match marked the end of the Hyderabad leg of the group stage matches. At this juncture, six teams – Karnataka Bulldozers, Chennai Rhinos, Telugu Warriors, Bhojpuri Dabanggs, Mumbai Heroes and Kerala Strikers have played 3 matches each. Karnataka is the only team to have won all of its group stage matches so far. The final leg of group stage matches will be played from March 8 to 10, split between Chandigarh and Thiruvananthapuram.