It was the perfect all-round show by Krishnappa Gowtham at Karnataka Premier League. He took the lead during batting. Then he went on to register arguably the best ever bowling figure in T20 cricket history.
Krishnappa Gowtham had a day to remember on the field with bat and ball for Bellary Tuskers. He walked in when the Tuskers were on 20/1 in the third over. He played the role of anchor, built the innings and then smashed a brilliant knock of unbeaten 134 off just 56 deliveries. His innings had seven fours and 13 maximums. He batted with a strike rate of 239.28. The furious Gowtham remained till the end of the innings and ensured a 200 plus total for his team in 17 overs. After losing two openers within the 8th over of the innings, nobody expected the Tuskers to put such a show at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore. The rain curtailed match saw Gowtham smashing the fastest hundred of KPL.
In reply, Shivamogga Lions had a shocking start. The first wicket was gone in the very first over as Nihal Ullal was dismissed by Prasidh Krishna. The second over saw Gowtham picking up the second wicket of the Lions. Then what followed was an absolute showcase of class and talent. He started with Arjun Hoysala and then there was no stopping. He kept on picking wickets of the opponents. Gowtham took the wickets of Hoysala, Akshay Ballal, K Rohit, Abhimanyu Mithun, Pavan Deshpande, Manjunath, Mohanram Nidesh, and HS Sharath. Eventually he ended by scalping eight wickets for just 15 runs in his four overs. His blistering effort saw Shivamogga Lions being bundled out for just 133 runs.
Gowtham’s bowling analysis could have been the best bowling figures in the history of Twenty 20 cricket but it did not come in any ICC approved match. Earlier this month, Colin Ackermann had become the first bowler to take seven wickets in a Twenty20 match. His 7/18 in four overs for Leicestershire against Birmingham Bears in Vitality Blast 2019 is the best bowling figures in an innings in the history of T20 cricket.