Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20: Manish Pandey leads from front as Hubli Tigers finish on top of points table

Day 14, Match 1

Bengaluru, 26^th August 2023: The Hubli Tigers beat the Mangaluru Dragons to ensure a first-place finish on the points table in the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20. Manvanth Kumar (5/33) put on a brilliant display of bowling to pick up five wickets before Md. Taha (51 off 23 balls) and skipper Manish Pandey (56* off 33 balls) took Hubli to a comfortable win over Mangaluru, beating them by 5 wickets with 10 balls to spare.

Put into bat, Mangaluru Dragons wicket-keeper batsman got his team off to a quick start scoring 40 runs off 23 balls before he was bowled by Manvanth Kumar in the fifth over. Rohan Patil (34) and KV Siddharth (53) added 60 runs in a strong second-wicket partnership before Praveen Dubey scalped Patil in the 12^th over, at the end of which the score read 105-2.

Another productive partnership of 48 runs was formed for the third wicket between KV Siddharth and Thippa Reddy (19) as Mangaluru went on to breach the 150 mark in 16.5 overs setting the team up for a high score by the end of the innings. However, the fall of Reddy and Siddharth in the 18^th over bowled by Manvanth Kumar went on to trigger a collapse as they managed just 16 runs off the final three overs for the loss of seven wickets courtesy of some ingenious mix of pace by Manvanth Kumar and Lavish Kaushal.

Mangaluru ended their innings at 167-9 with the in-form pacer for Hubli Tigers Manvanth Kumar (5/33) turning up as the wrecker in chief, picking up his first fifer of the tournament to break the momentum generated by the Mangaluru top order.

In reply, Hubli Tigers notched up 46 runs in the first four overs with Md. Taha (51), launching an all-out attack on the Mangaluru Dragons’ bowlers. Despite the fall of both Naga Bharath (14) and KL Shrijith (4) in the fifth over, the flow of runs wasn’t impeded as Md. Taha went on to bring up his half-century in 21 balls before ending up as Anand Doddamani’s third victim of the evening in the ninth over at the end of which the score read 88-3.

Praveen Dubey (17) then joined skipper Manish Pandey (56*) at the crease and rotated strike well before he was dismissed by Paras Arya in the 13^th over. K Gowtham got rid of Manvanth Kumar the following over at the end of which, the Hubli Tigers were 127-5 with Pandey well set on 33* off 22 balls.

With just 41 runs required off the final six overs and Manish Pandey bringing up his half-century in 32 balls, the Hubli Tigers beat the Mangaluru Dragons by five wickets with 10 balls to spare as BA Mohith (20*) and Pandey saw them through to the finish line.

BRIEF SCORES

Hubli Tigers won by 5 wickets with 10 balls to spare

Mangaluru Dragons - 167-9 in 20 overs: (KV Siddharth 53 off 37 balls, BR Sharath 40 off 23 balls, Rohan Patil 34 off 26 balls, Manvanth Kumar 5-33, Lavish Kaushal 2-26, Praveen Dubey 1-18)

Hubli Tigers - (Manish Pandey 56* off 33 balls, Md. Taha 51 off 23 balls, Anand Doddamani 3-34, Krishnappa Gowtham 1-32, Paras Arya 1-38)