Provident, Diamonds ease into semis

Bangalore Provident (Rural) eased to a seven-wicket win against Belagavi Panthers at the Chinnaswamy Stadium to book their place in the KPL semi-final. The Panthers, asked to bat, could only muster 113 as left-arm spinner Arjun Shetty grabbed four wickets to make Provident's task easier. Wicketkeeper Vinayak Uthappa made a run-a-ball 27 and offspinner Akshay chipped in with 20 but their effort was inadequate. Provident, in their reply, lost a couple of early wickets but Amit Verma (34) and Sunil Kumar Jain (51*) steadied the ship in a 82-run stand and victory was achieved with 3.2 overs to spare.

Bangalore Brigadiers (Urban) earned a consolation win against Bijapur Bulls at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, beating them by 49 runs. Openers Syed Ibrez and Deepak Chougule added 91 for the first wicket in just 10.3 overs, laying a strong platform. Nikhil Kashyap then stepped up at the death, smashing 34 off 14 balls to propel Brigadiers to 184. The Bulls faltered at the start of their chase, losing their openers early. Stuart Binny tried hard to keep them in the hunt with a quickfire 44 which included four fours and three sixes. But once he fell in the 13th over with the score on 120, the innings fell apart. The Bulls were bowled out for 135. Left-arm medium-pacer TK Ananth and left-arm spinner Narayanan Vinu Prasad grabbed three wickets each.

Shamanoor Davangere Diamonds topped the KPL table with a six-wicket win over Mysore Maharajas at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Chethan William, the Mysore captain, top scored with 37 but was short of support from the rest. The Diamonds bowlers, in a collective effort, managed to restrict Mysore to 122. In their reply, the Diamonds were boosted by a strong start by the openers. Mayank Agarwal made 27 in a first-wicket stand of 49 and Pavan Deshpande anchored the chase with a run-a-bal 51 to see his team through with eight balls to spare.