KPL 2018: Bijapur Bulls primed for success on the back the scintillating 2017 journey

08/14/2018

Karnataka has always been an epicentre of Indian cricketing milieu and with the commencement of Karnataka Premier League (KPL) almost a decade ago, local cricket in the State has taken a different turn. Many local players have been benefited with the unique aspects of the IPL-style league.

It is medieval to discuss that how IPL has changed the complexion of Indian cricket for good, with players from various small cities and even villages for that matter putting a step forward to disrupt the established order. Cue - KC Cariappa, a player from Coorg in Karnataka used the T20 cricket as a stepping stone to glory when AR Srikkanth, who is the team performance analyst for Kolkata Knight Riders and Bijapur Bulls, the franchise Cariappa represents in the Karnataka Premier League, saw him and called for a trial in Hyderabad. A story started from there as KKR broke the bank by spending an astonishing sum of Rs 2.4 crore ($400,000), 24 times his base price to get him on board.

Such has been the influence of IPL is that the leagues like KPL and TNPL have become the regular visiting places for IPL scouts. And among all seven participants, if there is one team that has been at the forefront of the revolution, it is Bijapur Bulls - the champions from the fourth season and the runners-up last year.

Led by opener Bharath Chipli, the Bulls had a tournament to remember last year. Starting off on a poor note, they bounced back after the first two games to qualify for the playoffs and also won the semi-finals against Shivamogga Lions before going down to Belagavi Panthers in the grand finale.

The Bulls had a disastrous start to the previous season, though. They lost to Mysuru Warriors in a closely-fought battle to start off their 2017 campaign. After bowling out the Karun Nair-led Warriors for 150, the Bulls were restricted to 146/5 in 20 overs in that game. Bulls required five runs off the final ball but Shreyas Gopal kept Abhimanyu Mithun at bay.

Bijapur Bulls’ attempt to recover from early damage was undone by Shivamogga Lions in their very next game where the latter thrashed them and the script was almost similar. The Bulls managed to restrict their opponents to 161 in stipulated 20 overs but failed to chase down the target by getting bowled out for 133 in the final over.

However, the blip was short-lived as fortune changed for Bijapur for good from their third league game. Couple of days after their defeat against Shivamogga, the Bulls came back with a bang to chase down 173 against Bellary Tuskers. Chipli led from the front with a well-made 63 off 35 at the top of the order to provide the much-needed impetus to the team that they wanted during a run-chase.

From that game onwards, the Bulls never looked back in the previous season. They kept on winning one game after another. In the process of qualifying for the semi-finals, they defeated Hubli Tigers, Bengaluru Blasters, and the season winner Belagavi Panthers in their rest of the games in the league stage of the tourney.

The Bijapur Bulls met the lions from Shivamogga in their semi-final battle and that turned out to be a thrilling run-chase for the Bharath Chipli-led side. Chasing 158 to win, Abhimanyu Mithun starred with the bat lower down the order to take them into the finals. The end to the season was anti-climatic for the Bulls as they went down to the Panthers in the final. Bijapur batted first and managed to score only 141 and the target was quite comfortably achieved by the Panthers to win the title.

Come this year, the Kiran Kattimani-owned franchise will surely look forward to go one step ahead. The team management is quite hopeful of rectifying the mistakes from last season to ensure a full-throttle performance from the boys this year. In their opening game on the second day of the tournament, they will meet Hubli Tigers on Thursday at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

The Bulls will miss the services of international pacer and their last year semi-final hero Abhimanyu Mithun this year but with players like KC Cariappa and KP Apanna, the bowling department looks rock solid for the Bulls. The team will look forward to their skipper Bharath Chipli to deliver the goods with the bat this season as well.

With KPL season-7 all set to begin on Independence Day, the champions from the fourth season of this prestigious state league will try their level best to start their campaign on a great note and end the tournament on a high, probably by winning the title for the second time in the KPL history.

Bijapur Bulls Squad

Bharath Chipli (C), Ronit More, Naveen MG, KC Cariappa, Mir Kaunain Abbas, KP Appanna, Suneel Raju, KN Bharath, Rishabh Singh, Bhavesh Gulecha, Anurag Bajpai, KL Shrijith, Zahoor Farooqui