Karun Nair turned back the clock in the most entertaining fashion for the Indian cricket fans on Monday with his unbeaten knock of 124 in just 48 balls for the Mysore Warriors against the Mangalore Dragons in the Maharaja Trophy T20 tournament at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
Put in to bat by Mangalore skipper Shreyas Gopal, the Mysore team didn’t get off to a brisk start by T20 standards as they reached 61/2 in 8 overs, with Samit Dravid joining skipper Nair in the middle.
The duo added 36 runs in the next 21 balls when Samit was cleaned up by Nischith Rao for 16, with the score reading 97 for 3 in 11.3 overs.
From there on, Nair, who has played six Tests and two ODIs for India, put his foot on the accelerator and didnt’ look back.
The Warriors team lost Sumit Kumar (15) in the 16th over, after which Nair and Manoj Bhandage (31 not out off 14 balls) went into the top gear, hammering 85 runs in the last 29 balls to deflate the Dragons.
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Put in to bat by Mangalore skipper Shreyas Gopal, the Mysore team didn’t get off to a brisk start by T20 standards as they reached 61/2 in 8 overs, with Samit Dravid joining skipper Nair in the middle.
The duo added 36 runs in the next 21 balls when Samit was cleaned up by Nischith Rao for 16, with the score reading 97 for 3 in 11.3 overs.
From there on, Nair, who has played six Tests and two ODIs for India, put his foot on the accelerator and didnt’ look back.
The Warriors team lost Sumit Kumar (15) in the 16th over, after which Nair and Manoj Bhandage (31 not out off 14 balls) went into the top gear, hammering 85 runs in the last 29 balls to deflate the Dragons.
WATCH
Nair ended up smashing 13 fours and 9 sixes in his 124 not out, which came at a staggering strike rate of 258.33.
In response, the Dragons were no match for the Warriors and could only reach 138 for 7 in 14 overs when rain came to put an end to the proceedings, resulting in the Warriors’ 27-run win (VJD method).
Only wicketkeeper-batsman K Siddharth (50 off 27 balls) and Nikin Jose (32 off 21 balls) showed some fight for the Dragons.