Jagadeesha Suchith underlined his growing reputation as a match-winning all-rounder leading Bengaluru Blasters to a 23-run victory over Mysore Warriors on Saturday night in the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 here at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
The 28-year-old was in the thick of action in both the innings and shone with both the bat and ball in a player-of-the-match performance (40, 18 balls, 6 fours, 1 six and 2-19) that helped the Blasters take sole lead at the top of the table and become the first team to book a berth in the playoffs with 12 points and a match to spare.
The Warriors stay on 10 points, the same as Gulbarga Mystics, but with only one match in hand while the latter have two, leaving the race for the remaining three berths for the playoffs intense as well as intriguing.
At the end of the ninth and penultimate round of matches on Saturday night, Hubli Tigers are in fourth spot with eight points, same as Mangalore United, but with an extra match in hand.
The last team in the six-team tournament, Shivamogga Strikers, who caused an upset beating Mangalore United in the first match on Saturday, are out of the race with just two victories from nine matches.
Sunday’s first match between the Warriors and the Mystics, therefore, may turn out to be decisive in deciding the playoffs line-up.
Suchith, however, was the undisputed Saturday night hero. Coming in at No. 6, with his team having lost steam after a good start, the left-hander provided the innings the much-needed impetus with some bold hitting.
The 28-year-old struck successive boundaries off Prateek Jain in the 17th over and was even more ruthless in the next, blasting 21 runs of Vidyadhar Patil with a sequence of 4-4-6 being the highlight.
Suchith, who played four matches for the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 2022 IPL and picked up six wickets, threw away his wicket in the final over before a short rain intervention, but his brilliant batting had by then put the Blasters in a dominating position (157-6), if not in the driver’s seat.
Earlier, L R Chethan (29, 23 balls, 5 fours) and captain Mayank Agarwal (31, 25 balls, 3 fours, 1 six) added 59 runs in the first 6-over powerplay to give the Blasters a solid start.
Both the batsmen were in good nick and when they were just about planning to go after the bowling, the Warriors captain Karun Nair introduced leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal. The move paid immediate dividends as Gopal bowled Agarwal off his first delivery, a googly the batsman failed to read and found his middle-stump pegged back.
Gopal struck again in his second over, this time dismissing the other opener Chethan with a similar delivery, but this time the off-stump was pegged back.
Two wickets of two-well set batsmen in the space of 16 deliveries and for just 13 runs and one more wicket that of Shivkumar Rakshith, leg-before to Gopal in his third over, affected the run rate and the mindset of the following batsmen.
Gopal conceded his only boundary in his fourth over to finish with impressive figures of 3-19.
In reply, the Warriors never got their chase on track. Losing wickets at regular intervals, including that of the key pair of Pavan Deshpande and captain Nair, at a crucial junction to further precipitated matters.
Suchith got into the act at this stage and struck a double blow with successive deliveries to provide the sucker punch and finish with 2-19.
Gopal continued to wage a lone and spirited battle for the Warriors, completing his half century (41 balls, 4 fours, 2 sixes) in the last over, but that could not change the fate of his team.
Brief scores:
Bengaluru Blasters 157-6 (L R Chethan 29 (23 balls, 5 fours, Mayank Agarwal (31, 25 balls, 3 fours, 1 six, Jagadeesha Suchith 40; Shreyas Gopal 3-19) bt Mysore Warriors (Pavan Deshpande 20, Shreyas Gopal 50; Santok Singh 2-23, Ronit More 2-18, Rishi Bopanna 3-31, Suchith 2-19).
SUNDAY’S MATCHES
3pm: Mysore Warriors vs Gulbarga Mystics
7pm: Hubli Tigers vs Bengaluru Blasters
