Hubbali, Sep 20: Mayank Agarwal and Vinay Kumar stitched together an 81-run partnership off 65 balls to make light work of the 126-run target as Belagavi Panthers beat Namma Shivamogga by 8 wickets in the 5th edition of the Karnataka Premier League (KPL) Twenty20 tournament at the KSCA stadium in Rajnagar on Tuesday afternoon (September 20).

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Chasing a modest total of 125, Mayank, in excellent form of late, made a punishing unbeaten 69 (47b, 2x6, 5x4) and in the company of Vinay (40; 37b, 1x6, 4x4) put the Panthers on road to victory. That came soon enough, in the 17th over and at the expense of just 2 wickets.

Earlier, Shivamogga, opting to bat first, were dealt an early blow when opener Sadiq Kirmani taking his chances very early in the innings holed out in only the second over bowled by HS Sharath.

Captain Stuart Binny and Nikin Jose then steadied the ship by rotating strike regularly. But just when a partnership seemed to be taking shape, Nikin Jose (14; 18b, 2x4) and Stuart Binny (29; 27b, 1x6, 4x4) fell in quick succession, leaving Shivamogga reeling at 51 for 3 in 8.4 overs.

Pawan Deshpande (23; 17b, 1x6, 1x4) tried to offer some resistance but fell to man of the match Praveen Dubey in the 15th over. It was all downhill from there for Shivamogga, as Dubey (4/19), Pradeep T (1/14) and Vinay Kumar (1/15) shared the bowling honours to restrict the opposition to 125 in 19.5 overs.

It was disappointing batting by the Shivamogga team and they paid the price for it.

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Brief Scores

Namma Shivamogga: 125 all out in 19.5 overs (Stuart Binny 29, Pawan Deshpande 23; Praveen Dubey 4/19) lost to Belagavi Panthers: 126/2 in 16.5 overs (Mayank Agarwal 69 not out, Vinay Kumar 40, Praveen Dubey 4/19, T Pradeep 1/14) by 8 wickets.

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