KCC 2023: Upendra’s team wins on the back of Herschelle Gibbs’ magnificent knock

Day 2 of the Kannada Chalanachitra Cup began with Real Star Upendra’s Vijayangar Patriots taking on Golden Star Ganesh’s Kadamba Lions. Upendra’s team captain, Pradeep Bogadi, won the toss and elected to field. The strategy was to chase rather than set a target, he said, while Ganesh added that he would have chosen to bat first if he’d won the toss, considering that his team had successfully defended in their Day 1 match against Dhruva Sarja’s Rashtrakuta Panthers. The Kadamba Lions made two changes in their playing 11, with Pavan Wadeyar coming in place of Preetham Gubbi and Loki replacing Yogi.

The opening pair of Rajeev Hanu and Tilakaratne Dilshan put on 81 runs in five and a half overs, before losing Dilshan. Rajeev went on to get a half century, scoring 52 of 26 as the team went on to put on the highest score of the tournament so far, with 121-4, and setting the Vijayangar Patriots 122 for the win.

Before sending in his boys to chase, Upendra said that he’s confident his team will get to the total in no time. In response, openers Pradeep Bogadi and Herschelle Gibbs had a slower star, getting to 61 at the half-way mark and slowly picking up the pace. By the eight over mark, the openers had put on 108 for no loss, with the bulk of it coming from Gibbs’ bat. The Vijayanagar Patriots won with five balls to spare, on the back of Gibbs’ 84 of 32 balls, with skipper Pradeep supporting him well with 27 of 23 balls.

After the third match on Day 2, there will be a brief closing ceremony, followed by a final match, between the top two teams, which will be decided based on number of wins, run rate, wickets, etc. At the end of Day 1, the Hoysala Eagles, Ganga Warriors and Kadamba Lions all had one win each. And now, the Vijayanagar Patriots also have one victory.

The broadcast partner of KCC is Zee Network, with Zee Picchar the TV partner and Zee5 the streaming partner. If you do not have access to Zee Network, do not worry. You can watch all the action for free on the platform. Log on to Zee5 and search for Zee Picchar.