Mystics drub Lions by nine wickets

Bengaluru: Shivamogga Lions batters came up with an uninspiring performance, crashing to a nine-wicket loss to Gulbarga Mystics in the KSCA Maharaja Trophy T20 tournament here on Monday. Shreyas Gopal and his men were bowled out for a below-par 121 in 17.4 overs at the M Chinnaswamy stadium. In reply, powered by opener LR Chethan's unbeaten 31-ball 58 (4x4; 4x6), Mystics reached the target in 12.4 overs for the loss of one wicket.Earlier, Mystics’ bowlers Abhilash Shetty (2/21) and Vyshak Vijaykumar (2/9) kept the Lions' batters on a tight leash. But it was 17-year-old Hardik Raj (3/27) who turned out to be their star bowler. For Lions, Rohan Naveen (33) and Rohit Kumar (25) were the only notable contributors. Mystics began the chase in a blistering fashion with Chethan and Aadarsh Prajwal (37) stitching together 60 off 38 balls.ARYA SPINS DRAGONS TO VICTORYMangaluru Dragons’ young left-arm spinner Paras Gurbax Arya returned 5/22 to hand Bengaluru Blasters their sixth consecutive loss. With the 31-run defeat, the Blasters’ mathematical chance of making the knockouts went up in smoke. Dragons posted 171/7 with contributions from most batters. In reply, Blasters’ now familiar woes of not getting a start played out again. Barring Shubhang Hegde (54n.o), the rest came up short. For Dragons, Arya was well-supported by fellow left-arm tweaker Anand Doddamani (2/11).Brief scores: Shivamogga Lions: 121 all out in 17.4 overs (Rohan Naveen 33, Rohit Kumar 25; Abhilash Shetty 2-21, Vijaykumar Vyshak 2-9, Hardik Raj 3-27) lost to Gulbarga Mystics: 126/1 in 12.4 overs (LR Chethan 58 n.o, Aadarsh Prajwal 37, MacNeil Noronha 27 n.o.).Mangaluru Dragons: 171/7 in 20 overs (Rohan Patil 28, Aniruddha Joshi 39, Aneeshwar Gautam 32; T Pradeep 2-34, LR Kumar 2-27, Sarfaraz Ashraf 2-21) bt Bengaluru Blasters: 140/9 in 20 overs (Shubhang Hegde 54n.o; Anand Doddamani 2-20, Paras Gurbax Arya 5-22).