Mystics down Dragons, storm into last-4 stage

Bengaluru: Defending champions Gulbarga Mystics stormed into the semifinals of the KSCA Maharaja Trophy T20 tournament with an eight-wicket win over Mangaluru Dragons on Sunday. After bowling out the Dragons for a modest 144, the Mystics overhauled the target with 4.3 overs to spare. Mystics’ chase was anchored by a fine 114-run opening stand between LR Chethan (58) and KV Aneesh (72 n.o).Shivamogga Lions was the last team to make the cut for Monday’s semifinals, with a 11-run win over Bengaluru Blasters in the last league match. Powered by Abhinav Manohar’s unbeaten 25-ball 58 and skipper Shreyas Gopal’s 23-ball 43, Lions posted 192/5. In reply, Blasters, who finished at the bottom of the table, ended up with 181/8.Earlier, at the M Chinnaswamy stadium, Mystics’ bowlers were in fine form and made early inroads during powerplay. BR Sharath (38) and Thippa Reddy (27) put them back on track with their quickfire 51-run association. But the wicket of Sharath in the sixth over led to a middle-order collapse.Aniruddha Joshi (46) resurrected the innings, putting together a much-needed partnership of 52 runs from 38 balls with impact player Akshan Rao (12) before the former was dismissed by Abhilash Shetty (3/33). Vyshak Vijaykumar and Hardik Raj accounted for two wickets apiece. In reply, Mystics hardly broke a sweat in the chase.Brief scores: Mangaluru Dragons: 144 all out in 19.1 overs: (BR Sharath 38, Thippa Reddy 27, Aniruddha Joshi 46; Abhilash Shetty 3-33, Vyshak Vijaykumar 2-20, Hardik Raj 2-24) lost to Gulbarga Mystics: 145/2 in 15.3 overs (LR Chethan 58, KV Aneesh 72 n.o; K Gowtham 2-21).Shivamogga Lions: 192/5 in 20 overs (Rohan Kadam 35, Vinay Sagar 32, Abhinav Manohar 58n.o, Shreyas Gopal 43; Tanish Mahesh 3-50) bt Bengaluru Blasters: 181/8 in 20 overs (D Nischal 68, Suraj Ahuja 29). Semifinal line-up: Hubli vs Shivamogga; Mysuru vs Gulbarga.