The Gulbarga Mystics won the first Maharaja Trophy competition thanks to a brilliant fifty by Devdutt Padikkal, a late blitzkrieg by captain Manish Pandey, and then some accurate bowling by the bowlers lead by Manoj Bhandage.
The Bengaluru Blasters were defeated by the Mystics by 11 runs on Friday night at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.
The Gulbarga Mystics, who batted first, got off to an explosive start in the powerplay thanks to the in-form Jeswath Acharya and Rohan Patil. Before Patil, the first hitter to leave for 38, both batsmen put on a stand of 60 runs while hitting boundaries and scored at a rate of more than 10 runs per over.
The fashionable Padikkal joined Acharya, and together they kept up the momentum. However, the partnership was not significant when Acharya walked back for 39 in the seventh over. Padikkal seized control after that, playing some pretty nice shots and appearing poised to score a big one.
Before Manish Pandey and Padikkal gained control in the last phase, with the Mystics well on their way to a total of over 200, Krishnan Shrijith added a quickfire 38, smashing a few sixes and as many boundaries.
As captain Pandey was shifting through the gears quickly at the other end, Padikkal reached his fifty in the 18th over and had the best seat in the house. The Mystics concluded with 220 runs after Pandey hit a hat-trick of sixes in the 19th over, pushing the score above 200.
Despite the fact that Mayank Agarwal and L.R. Chethan initially appeared to be strong, the Blasters were unable to get off to a strong start in response. Before the captain was castled, the openers could only string together a 20-run stand.
The middle order disintegrated as a result, as Kush Marathe (1), Shivkumar Rakshith (0), and Aniruddha Joshi (7) were the following three to fall as the Blasters laboured to reach 46/4 by the end of the powerplay.
Chethan was raising one end while holding the other. J Suchith was out for 5, while Chethan reached his half-century in 21 balls at the other end.
The Blasters needed 139 runs from 11 overs with 5 wickets in hand, but they were losing wickets frequently and fairly quickly. As soon as the Blasters launched a counterattack through Chethan, who was well-supported by Kranthi Kumar, the game's dynamics altered.
Chethan was advancing quickly, handing out massive blows only as he raced toward a century, barely keeping his side in the hunt. From the final six overs, the Blasters required 74 runs. Chethan, though, smashed 91 runs in just 40 deliveries of his spectacular innings, smashing 8 sixes and 6 fours. The loss of the opener essentially put the Blasters' fate in writing.
Pradeep T. was dismissed for 3 while Kranthi Kumar concluded with 47, but a late attack from Rishi Bopanna (13) and Ronit More (22*) gave the team hope. The Blasters, who fell short by 11 runs in the championship, found it to be a bridge too far.
Brief scores:
Gulbarga Mystics 220/3 in 20 overs (Devdutt Padikkal 56*, Manish Pandey 41*, Jeswath Acharya 39, Rohan Patil 38; Aniruddha Joshi 1/15, Rishi Bopanna 1/35) defeated Bengaluru Blasters 209/9 in 20 overs (LR Chethan 91, Kranthi Kumar 47, Ronit More 22*; Manoj Bhandage 3/32, Ritesh Bhatkal 2/20, Pranav Bhatia 2/39) by 11 runs.