CM Gautam was an ecstatic captain as Bellary Tuskers thrashed Bijapur Bulls by seven wickets in the 8th match of Karnataka Premier League (KPL) 2019 at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on Tuesday (August 20).

Opting to bowl first, Krishnappa Gowtham (3/33) and Prasidh Krishna (2/17) delivered outstanding spells as Tuskers restricted Bulls to 162/7 in 20 overs.

In reply, Bellary Tuskers rode on Abhishek Reddy’s unbeaten 54-ball 62 and CA Karthik’s blazing 57 off 36 balls to chase down the target in 18.5 overs. It was Tuskers’ third consecutive victory in the tournament in as many games.

Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Tuskers skipper CM Gautam said: “We have the momentum and we should carry it forward. The way CA Karthik and Abhishek complimented each other was great to see. I can't ask for more from the bowling, even though we missed Appanna a bit today, the others took responsibility. We are going to stick to the basics and take it one game at a time.”

Losing captain Bharath Chipli admitted that they were about 15 runs short of the winning total.

“We were about 15 runs short. But they batted really well and that 100-run partnership took it away from us. I am batting well and hitting well. Raju (Bhatkal) has been batting well through the year and I thought him batting at number three would do well for us. The moment we get our batting right we will start to win games,” he said.

Abhishek Reddy was adjudged Player-of-the-Match for his unbeaten fifty. He credited CA Karthik for taking the pressure away from him at the start of the innings.

“I just wanted to stay out there. The management asked me to finish the game; I made 30s so far and wanted to stay till the end. When CA Karthik is around, it makes it easy for me to give him the strike. Definitely I have been working on my bowling as well and the skipper can give me the ball in the future matches,” Reddy said.

(Quotes from Cricbuzz)