Mangaluru: After a loss in their earlier game against Team Elegant of Moodbidri, Maestro Titans rose from the ashes to show a fantastic display of team work in their qualifier match against Spark Avengers of Bolar. The MPL 2016 match conducted on December 28 was a testing battle for both the teams in order to qualify for the semifinals to be held on December 29.
With Maestro Titans winning the toss and electing to field for the first innings, Spark Avengers had the task of setting a hard to beat score if they had to win. But with effective bowling and fielding by the Titans, the Avengers could reach a score of 135 for the loss of eight wickets at the end of 20 overs. The two bowled off wickets by Rajat and two catches by Akshay Ballal were indeed notable.
On the batting end, Maestro Titans chased the score and beat it by a run in 18.3 overs with a loss of six wickets. Though team captain and batting strongman Akshay Ballal lost his wicket early in the game, Vishwanath and Lokesh made up to the runs that Akshay would have scored. Vishwanath played fantastically well and scored a good 72 runs for the team.
Apart from Rajat and Akshay at the bowling end, Asjath secured two wickets while Sinan and Karthik got one each. For the brilliant display of grit and calculated risks to score 72 runs, the “Man of the Match” title went to Vishwanath. The semifinal match between Maestro Titans and Team Elegant, Moodbidri will be played at 6.30 pm on December 29 at the NMPT ground.
