Maharaja Trophy | Shreyas Gopal three-fer leads Mangalore Dragons to win over Gulbarga Mystics in opener

Gantavya Adukia

ByGantavya Adukia,SportsCafe Editor

108
Shreyas Gopal scored a quick 20 and returned figures of 3/30 to lead his team to victory

Mangalore Dragons cruised to a 33-run win against Gulbarga Mystics in the first game of Maharaja Trophy 2025, at the Wadeyar Ground in Mysore. Macneil Noronha's rapid fifty took Mangalore to 180/8 before Shreyas Gopal's three scalps helped bowl out their rivals for 147 with a ball to spare.

The latest edition of the Mahraja Trophy got off to an incredulous start as Monish Reddy overstepped on the very first ball and was duly dispatched by Lochan Gowda over his head for a maximum. The pacer bounced back with the opener's wicket on the fifth ball, only to be called for overstepping again in what turned out to be a 20-run first over. Sharath BR got into the party too with a six and four in the third over but just when the Dragons were on the brink of a perfect powerplay, both openers departed on consecutive deliveries to leave them at 60/2 after six. A two-over squeeze followed culminating in the wicket of Aneesh KV, but Macneil Noronha remained undettered and took the counterattacking route. Four sixes and three fours saw him race to a 25-ball half-century while Aadarsh Prajwal struck back-to-back maximums in the 12th over to get going as well. However, another pair of quick blows once again set back Mangalore, triggering a collapse that had them at 150/7 with three overs to go. Nevertheless, skipper Shreyas Gopal contributed a 16-ball 20 to ensure his team gets to a competitive total of 180/8 at the end of 20.

In response, Gulbarga began even more explosively than their rivals as Nikin Jose and Luvnith Sisodia combined for 21 runs in the first over. The latter further added a four and a six off Shreyas but the leggie had the last laugh by getting the better of Sisodia (24 off 16) and Jose (11 off 7) in the space of four deliveries. The momentum never switched hands thereafter as Smaran Ravichandran and Bangalore Mohith also fell in quick succession to leave the Mystics reeling at 72/4 after 10. Prajwal Pravan tried to anchor the chase along but failed to find any rhythm, his miseries capped off by a comical mix-up to end his run-a-ball struggle for 25. The equation already read 85 in the final five overs by then, and the game quickly fizzled out thereafter as the Mystics ended 33-short.

What was that?

Haha!

Good game!

Yeah!

Good win for them!

Nope!

Gopa!👌🏻

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