Mysuru (Karnataka) [India], June 26 (ANI): Karun Nair and Shreyas Gopal complemented each other to steer Coastal Kings Mangaluru to a six-wicket victory over Mysore Warriors in the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 tournament on Thursday.
The Coastal Kings were back in action less than 24 hours after losing to Bangalore Blasters by 20 runs on Wednesday. But they made light work of the fatigue factor with Nair and Gopal successfully chasing a 192-run target with a stunning and decisive 60-ball 123 run partnership for the fourth wicket.
The veteran duo, who have featured in many epic battles both for Karnataka and many franchises down the years, turned the tables after the Coastal Kings were reduced to 42-3 by the fifth over.
Nair, the top pick at Rs18 lakh in this year's auction, was at his flamboyant best, making a 32-ball 61 (6 fours, three sixes) before he got out going for another big hit.
But an undeterred Gopal stayed till the end with a fine match-winning unbeaten 84 (43 balls, 9 fours, 3 sixes). He had earlier claimed two wickets for 25 runs to underline his all-round credentials.
Earlier, put into bat, opener Chethan LR, who had scored a fine century in the previous match, was the main force for the Warriors' making an attacking 67 in 35 balls (4 fours, 6 sixes) to take his team to 191-9. Yuvraj Arora's 37 in 22 balls was the next-best score. V Koushik was the pick of the Coastal Kings bowling attack with a three-wicket haul.
It was Coastal Kings' second victory in four matches, and they moved to second spot on the table with five points while the Warriors suffered their third loss in four matches and stayed at the bottom on two points.
Brief scores: Mysore Warriors 191-9 in 20 overs (L R Chethan 67, Yuvraj Arora 37; Vasuki Koushik 3-43, Shreyas Gopal 2-25) lost to Coastal Kings Mangaluru 195-4 in 17.overs (Karun Nair 61, Shreyas Gopal 84; Arbind Kumar Rai 2-31) by six wickets. (ANI)
