Mangalore's spinners take them to title

Mangalore United won the Karnataka Premier League 2010-11 with a strong bowling performance in the final, their left-arm spinners helping them defend a low total against Bangalore Provident (Rural). Udit Patel and Karun Nair shared eight wickets between them for 24 runs to dismiss Provident for a paltry 68.

Provident's chase looked in control when Thilak Naidu and MK Manjunath added 32 runs in the first five overs. Medium-pacer S Aravind bowled Manjunath with the first ball of the sixth over for the initial breakthrough before the spinners came to the party. Patel sparked the collapse, having Amit Verma caught by Bharat Chipli in the seventh over. He then trapped B Akhil, the Provident captain, leg before in his next over. Provident lost a wicket for each of the next five overs to slump to 59 for 8 - eight of their batsmen failing to reach double-figures - and it was a matter of time before Daniel Sequeira trapped Abhishek Jagan leg before to spark celebrations in the Mangalore camp.

Nair, named the Man of the Match, top-scored with 21 when Mangalore batted after losing the toss. They were off to a poor start when Rohit Sabharwal - the Mangalore captain who had smashed a 44-ball 78 in the semi-final against Davangere earlier in the day - was bowled in the third over by medium-pacer Abhishek Jagan. Mangalore lost wickets regularly thereafter, and Nidhuvan Kumar was the only other batsman apart from Nair to reach 20. Three late run-outs did not help them either, and they eventually finished with what seemed, at that point, an inadequate 112.