WATCH, MLC । Karthik Gattepalli makes stunning debut with two wickets in first over

SF Unicorns’ skipper Matthew Short won the toss and asked Los Angeles Knight Riders to bat first. Batting first, the Knight Riders posted a big total of 243/3 in the allotted 19 overs. Star opener Andre Fletcher smashed a blistering century, scoring 118 runs off just 58 balls, with 10 fours and eight sixes, followed by 58 and 49 runs, scored by Alex Hales and Sherfane Rutherford. Xavier Bartlett, Hassan Khan, and Karima Gore scalped a wicket each for the Unicorns in the first innings. While defending the target, the LAKR’s bowling attack bundled out the Unicorns at 233 runs in 18.5 overs to win the game by 11 runs. Karthik Gattepalli scalped 3 wickets at 31 runs in his four overs, alongside 2 wickets each picked by Shadley van Schalkwyk and Jason Holder. Besides these two, Dominic Drakes also claimed a wicket.

Apart from some brilliant batting performances in this game, what caught the attention of the fans and attracted the eyeballs was the sensational debut of the young LAKR spinner Karthik Gattepalli and his outstanding bowling in the first-ever over of his MLC career. He scalped 2 wickets in his first over, dismissing the Unicorns’ skipper Matthew Short and star number three batter Jake Fraser-McGurk. On the first ball of the over, Gattepalli bowled a delivery around the middle stump, which Matthew Short lifted towards the mid-on, and Hales didn’t make any mistake executing a brilliant catch. Later on the fourth ball of the over, Gattepalli trapped Jake Fraser-McGurk in an ‘outside-the-off-stump’ delivery; the young batter failed to judge the ball and stepped out of the crease, which gave a chance to LAKR wicketkeeper Adithya Ganesh to complete the stumping without any delay. Fraser-McGurk went back to the pavilion at a golden duck.

The young LAKR debutant Karthik Gattepalli ended up with the figures of ‘3 wickets at 31 runs in his quota of four overs.’ Eventually, LAKR finished their campaign on a winning note, defeating SF Unicorns by 11 runs. Andre Fletcher won the ‘Player of the Match’ award for his match-winning century. 

The dream debut: