Hubli ride on Luvnith Sisodia’s knock

BENGALURU: Faced with a must-win situation, Hubli Tigers found their man of the hour in young Luvnith Sisodia. The left-hander’s brilliant 40-ball 80 helped the team down Mangalore United in a tall scoring final league match of the Maharaja Trophy at the M Chinnaswamy stadium here on Monday. Set a stiff target of 185 for a victory, Sisodia’s brilliant assault that included 11 fours and two sixes, helped Hubli reach the target with 2.1 overs to spare.Mohammed Taha and BU Shivakumar chipped in with 34 each.
The result meant Hubli secured the final knockout berth and will play Mysuru Warriors in the Eliminator on Tuesday.
Earlier, Abhinav Manohar’s unbeaten 30-ball 69 helped Mangalore to a competitive 184/5 in 20 overs. However, Sisodia had other plans for the day.
STRIKERS SIGN OFF WITH WIN
Shivamogga Strikers signed off their campaign with a six-wicket victory over Gulbarga Mystics on Monday. While Gulbarga had already sealed their place in the Qualifier 1 against Bengaluru, to be played on Tuesday, Shivamogga were out of contention.
But playing for pride and looking for a third victory in 10 matches, Shivamogga reached the revised target of 54 off seven overs with three balls to spare after rain interrupted play when chasing 119 for a victory.
Batting first, Gulbarga did not get going at all. They kept losing wickets at regular intervals and could have been bowled out for a below-100 total but for Rithesh Bhatkal’s (38, 24b, 1x4; 3x6) counter-attacking cameo.
FREE ENTRY
The KSCA has decided to provide free tickets for the ‘B Upper’ stand for the Qualifiers and Eliminator. The entry to access this stand is from Gate No. 2 and it will be on first come, first served basis.
Brief scores: Mangalore United: 184/5 in 20 overs (R Samarth 31, Amit Verma 47, Abhinav Manohar 69 n.o; G Naveen 2-22) lost to Hubli Tigers: 189/4 in 17.5 overs (Sisodia 80, Taha 34, Shivakumar 34; Vyshak 2-36). Gulbarga Mystics: 118/9 in 20 overs (Rithesh Bhatkal 38; Utham Aiyappa 2-23, KC Cariappa 2-22; D Avinash 3-24) lost to Shivamogga Strikers: 54/4 in 6.3 overs.