CCL 2025 Day 4: Match 7 Darling Krishna is the architect of Karnataka Bulldozers's third win; register massive win over Mumbai Heroes

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Darling Krishna in demolition mode

Sent in to bat by the Heroes, who won the toss, the Bulldozers’ openers, Darling Krishna and Rajeev Hanu got to work from the word go. Speaking at the toss, Sudeep had said that going by the results of the two matches on February 14, the only thing they could do was to do their best and that’s what the openers did. At the end of 6 overs, the team was at 84 for no loss, with Krishna tantalisingly close to yet another half century. It seemed that Krishna and Rajeev were hell-bent on staying put for the entire innings with an unbeaten first wicket stand of 116 runs, until the latter’s lofted shot fell into the hands of the fielder, just inside the boundary line.

Chandan joined him in the middle, but the Krishna juggernaut was far from done. The Heroes bowlers caught no break with Krishna at the crease, as he hit them to all corners of the stadium and got to a century, the first of the tournament. The Bulldozers got to a massive 171 for 1 in their designated 10 overs, 111 of which came from Krishna’s bat. Chandan didn’t have much to do and the only time he did face the bowler, he took a quick single to bring Krishna back to the strike.

Heroes’ skipper Saqib Saleem couldn’t help much with the chase, perishing in the second over. Rajeev Pillai, who now plays for the Heroes, since the Kerala Strikers are no longer in competition, was joined by Sharad Kelkar, but he departed in the third over, then Rajeev in the fourth. By the 6th over, Sidhaanth Mulaney too was gone with the score 57-4. The Heroes lost a few more wickets and somehow managed to get to a three-figure total, with the help of 14 extras, winding up on 100 for 7, with a deficit of 71, a figure that Sohail Khan hoped would be a lot less.

Manjunath and J Karthik opened the second innings, with the latter departing at 17 with the team score at 47 in the fifth over. Skipper Sudeep joined Manjunath, and let the latter do all the talking with his bat. If Krishna was the star of the first innings, Manjunath ensured he took on the mantle in the second and got a half century in the process. The Heroes struggled with their bowling, but eventually got rid of Manjunath with the team score on 88, bringing Krishna back to bat. This time, though, the big hitter could not do much for the Bulldozers, adding only 19 of 8 balls, with the team score at 113 and the overall lead 184.

Once Krishna left, the pace dipped and between Sudeep and Rajeev only another 14 were added to the total. 127 for 3 is what the Bulldozers made, but their 71-run lead in the first innings meant that the Heroes had a daunting task of getting to 199 at 20 runs per over. The Mumbai team, no doubt, has big hitters, but was this going to be too much an ask, given the risks they’d have to take?

The Heroes, who’d already lost their first group stage match against the Bengal Tigers, knew that this match belongs to the Bulldozers, so the aim was to get as many runs on board and hope that if they win their next 2 matches, they’d still be in the reckoning for a semi-final outing based on net run-rate. Shabir gave them a good start with 49, but didn’t get much support from the rest of the team, except Saqib, who made 25 of 12 balls. They eventually folded at 113 for the loss of 5, giving the Bulldozers yet another massive win.

Live telecast/streaming of CCL matches

CCl 2025 can be watched on Sony Sports Ten 3 and JioHotstar. The second and final match of the Hyderabad schedule will see home team Telugu Warriors back on the field, after the victory they stole right from under the nose of the Bhojpuri Dabanggs. This time, they take on the Chennai Rhinos. The match is expected to being at 6.30 pm.