Sisodia, Shiva star for Hubli

Bengaluru: Shivamogga Strikers continued with their woeful form in the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 tournament, slumping to an eight-wicket defeat against Hubli Tigers on Friday.
At the M Chinnaswamy stadium here, Hubli’s victory march was led by opener Luvnith Sisodia (62; 38b; 6x4; 3x6) and BU Shivakumar (61 n.o; 52b; 7x4; 1x6). Having restricted Shivamogga to 146/5, Hubli coasted home with 16 balls to spare.
Shivamogga batsmen failed to get going.Although openers Stallin Hoover (38) and BR Sharath (36) put together a 78-run partnership, it came in 55 balls, while Powerplay yielded 37 runs. To their credit, the Hubli bowlers kept it tight, especially in the death with the last five overs yielding just 25 runs. In the final over, V Koushik (2/29) dismissed KV Siddharth and skipper K Gowtham off consecutive deliveries.
In reply, Shivakumar and Sisodia were in prime form, ensuring the team stayed ahead of the required run-rate. They rotated the strike well and went after the Shivamogga bowlers and by the time the bowling side got a breakthrough – Sisodia dismissed by Gowtham — Hubli were 40 runs away from victory.
Soon after, captain Abhimanyu Mithun (1) was dismissed but Shivakumar got to his half-century as the Tigers approached the finish line.
ALL-ROUND KARTHIK SHINES
CA Karthik (38 n.o & 2/9) came up an all-round show to help Gulbarga Mystics to a 28-run win over Mangalore United in the second match. Invited to bat, Gulbarga amassed 165/6 with Manish Pandey leading from the front with his 40-ball 58 (4x4; 2x6).
Coming five-down, Karthik scored a crucial 38 n.o (32b; 3x4; 1x6) to take his team past the 160-mark. In reply, barring Abhinav Manohar (51; 34b; 2x4; 3x6) none of the other batsmen got going for Mangalore. For the winners, Kushal Wadhwani returned 3/48 while Pranav Bhatia picked up two wickets.
Brief scores: Shivamogga Strikers: 146/5 in 20 overs (Stallin Hoover 38, Sharath BR 36, Chaitanya S 32; V Koushik 2/29) lost to Hubli Tigers: 149/2 in 17.2 overs (Luvnith Sisodia 62, BU Shivakumar 61 n.o).Gulbarga Mystics: 164/6 in 20 overs (Devdutt Padikkal 25, Manish Pandey 58, CA Karthik 38 n.o; HS Sharath 2-43, Vyshak Vijaykumar 2-31) bt Mangalore United: 136 all out in 18.4 overs (Abhinav Manohar 51; CA Karthik 2-9, Pranav Bhatia 2-26, Kushal Wadhwani 3-48).