Centurion Sharath powers Dragons to five-wkt victory

Bengaluru: In a high-scoring contest, BR Sharath slammed an unbeaten 61-ball 111 (9x4; 5x6) to power Mangaluru Dragons to a five-wicket win over Mysuru Warriors in the KSCA Maharaja Trophy T20 tournament here on Tuesday. Put in to bat, Mysuru rode on skipper Karun Nair’s quick-fire 77 (39b; 9x4; 2x6) to post an imposing 201/5. Mangaluru overhauled the target with seven balls to spare.Earlier, the fall of their openers didn’t hamper Mysuru's progress as they ended their powerplay at 54-2. The big-hitting Manoj Bhandage added the finishing touches with an unbeaten 10-ball 26 with two fours and two sixes.Mangaluru lost MG Naveen early but Rohan Patil (54) and Sharath added 96 runs in 52 balls to put their team on course. Sharath was dropped on 99 by CA Karthik and he made full use of the reprieve to bring up the first century of the tournament in 57 balls.Shivamogga prevailLast year's runners-up Bengaluru Blasters slumped to a 36-run defeat against Shivamogga Lions. Batting first, Shivamogga, riding on an impressive show from openers Rohan Kadam (70) and Nihal Ullal (40), put up 201/5.In reply, Bengaluru were off to a disastrous start, losing Bhuvan Raju (0) and skipper Mayank Agarwal (0) in two overs. Pavan Deshpande (32) and young Aashish Mahesh (30 n.o) put up a fight but it was too little to counter a competitive total. Bengaluru finished with 165/8 in 20 overs.Brief scores: Mysuru Warriors: 201/5 in 20 overs (CA Karthik 29, Karun Nair 77, Manoj Bhandage 26 n.o) lost to Mangaluru Dragons: 202/5 in 18.5 overs (Rohan Patil 54, BR Sharath 111 n.o; M Venkatesh 2-36, J Suchith 2-37).Shivamogga Lions: 210/5 in 20 overs (Rohan Kadam 70, Nihal Ullal 40, Abhinav Manohar 31, Kranthi Kumar 25; T Pradeep 2-46, LR Kumar 2-38) bt Bengaluru Blasters: 165/8 in 20 overs (Jeswath Acharya 29, Pavan Deshpande 32, Aashish Mahesh 30 n.o).