Sisodia powers Hubli Tigers into Maharaja Trophy knockouts

It resulted in a close contest that saw the Hubli Tigers pick up a 6-wicket win against Mangalore United at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. The result means Hubli Tigers secure the final knockout berth and will play Mysuru Warriors in the Eliminator on Tuesday.

Batting first, Mangalore did not get off to a good start with Raghuveer Pavalur (5) being the first to depart. However, Samarth R and Amit Verma dug in, look to set it up for the grand finish. The duo ensured the run-rate was good, keeping it in the region of 8 runs an over and above, but weren’t able to clear the ropes during a partnership of 69.

Samarth fell for 31, Nikin Jose (5) and Amit (47) followed suit soon after before the Abhinav Manohar show came to town on a Monday evening. Manohar and Aneeshwar Gautam (5) put on 26, after which the fireworks began. Manohar cleared the ropes with brute force, elegant lofts and even went inside out.

Manohar got to his half-century at the end of the 19th over, before smashing a hat-trick of sixes to finish up the innings unbeaten on 69 off 30 balls, with 6 sixes and five fours to his name. The last three overs disappeared for 57 runs as Mangalore United finished with 184/5 in 20 overs.

Matching Abhinav’s intensity in the second half were Hubli openers Luvnith Sisodia and Mohammed Taha, as they got the team off to a rollicking start. Sisodia and Taha were quite simply dealing in boundaries, with sweeps, drives and the flicks all being put to good use in the powerplay.

They brought up the half-century stand in 22 deliveries and the powerplay ended with the score on 80/0, with Sisodia getting his fifty off 20 balls. The stand ended on 88 with Taha being dismissed for 34 off 20 balls.

The Tigers slowed down a bit after the wicket, but Sisodia’s attack had brought the equation down to 68 needed off the final 10 overs. Sisodia though could not finish things off for the Tigers after a brilliant 40-ball-80 which was studded with 11 fours and 2 sixes.

BU Shiva Kumar was dismissed for a quickfire 34 as Mangalore looked to claw back into the contest. Abhimanyu Mithun looked dangerous but managed only 15, after which Tushar Singh (12*) put the seal on the win with a six with more than 2 overs to spare.

Brief scores:

Mangalore United – 184/5 in 20 overs (Abhinav Manohar – 69 off 30 balls, Amit Verma – 47 off 34 balls, Samarth R – 31 off 26 balls, Naveen MG – 2/22, BU Shiva Kumar – 1/28) lost by 6 wickets against Hubli Tigers – 189/4 in 17.5 overs (Luvnith Sisodia – 80 off 40 balls, BU Shiva Kumar – 34 off 20 balls, Mohammed Taha – 34 off 20 balls, Vijaykumar Vyshak – 2/36, Shashi Kumar K – 1/30)

Source: Media Release