Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20: Hubli Tigers beat Bengaluru Blasters to extend winning streak

Bengaluru, Aug 16 (IANS) The Hubli Tigers stuck to winning ways, completing yet another impressive victory, defeating the Kalyani Bengaluru Blasters by five wickets with 39 balls remaining at the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20, here on Wednesday.

The M. Chinnaswamy Stadium saw a stellar all-round performance from Manvanth Kumar, who picked up four wickets and scored 28 crucial runs to power a third consecutive victory for the Hubli Tigers.

While Mayank Agarwal’s half century augured well for the Bengaluru Blasters, their valiant effort in the field was overruled by a lacklustre show with the bat.

Put into bat, the Bengaluru Blasters had a tepid start, losing opener Bhuvan Raju to an avoidable run out in the fifth over. Despite Mayank Agarwal finding his groove, Bengaluru were locked at 40/1 by the end of the powerplay due to tight spells from pacers Lavish Kaushal and Vidwath Kaverappa.  

While Mayank Agarwal looked to turn up the heat in the middle overs cracking majestic boundaries, the duo of spinners, Praveen Dubey and KC Cariappa ensured a consistent loss of wickets including Jeswanth Acharya (7), Pavan Deshpande (1) and Suraj Ahuja (14).

In a fatal blow to Bengaluru, Mayank departed soon after completing his half century in just 32 deliveries, he was scalped by the disciplined bowling of youngster Manvanth Kumar in the fourteenth over. The innings continued to unravel, as KC Cariappa eliminated Aashish Mahesh and Manvanth Kumar went on to dismiss Lochan Appanna (2), Rishi Bopanna (0) and LR Kumar (6) in quick succession.

While Shubhang Hedge (7) remained unbeaten, T. Pradeep fell as the last wicket to Lavish Kaushal. The Bengaluru Blasters finished with a paltry score of 105/10.

In response, the Hubli Tigers asserted themselves early on as the in-form Luvnith Sisodia hammered 33 runs in just 17balls, to catapult Hubli into an even more commanding position.

Sisodia eventually fell to Rohan Bopanna in the fourth over after taking him for 14 runs off the first three balls. Soon after his dismissal, fellow opener, M. Taha (10) also fell to Shubhang Hegde.

After a blistering start in the first four overs, the loss of the openers mildly derailed Hubli’s innings, with K. Shrijith and Naga Bharath perishing soon after. However, the experience of Manish Pandey came in to anchor the innings while the young Manvanth Kumar (28) played a fearless knock in just 19 deliveries to bring the run chase back on track before he was trapped in front of the stumps by Sarfaraz Ashraf.

Pravin Dubey (2 not out) joined skipper Manish Pandey to complete a comfortable run chase with five wickets and 39 balls remaining.

Brief scores:

Kalyani Bengaluru Blasters  105/10 in 18.4 overs (Mayank Agarwal 50, Suraj Ahuja 14 Manvanth Kumar L 4-15, Praveen Dubey -2/22) lost to Hubli Tigers 111/5 in 13.3 overs (Luvnith Sisodia 33, Manvanth Kumar 28, Manish Pandey 23 not out, Sarfaraz Ashraf 2/22, Kumar LR 1/90 by 5 wickets.