Mysuru Warriors tame Hubli Tigers

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: A rejuvenated Mysore Warriors ended the brave run of Hubli Tigers by five wickets in the eliminator of the Maharaja Trophy T20 Tournament on Tuesday. Chasing a stiff 165 for a place in the Qualifier 2 to be played on Thursday, the Warriors stayed focused right through and kept the asking rate under control to eventually breeze to an easy victory.

But not before a late hiccup when they lost three wickets in the 19th over with victory in sight – nine runs of the last 12 balls.

Openers Nihal Ullal and captain Karun Nair added 52 runs for the opening wicket as the Warriors slammed 54 runs in the six-over power play, compared to the Tigers 56-0 in the same period. It was a good platform nevertheless to step on the accelerator later in the innings. And they did just that in the 15th over as Shreyas Gopal and Ullal blasted 24 overs of MG Naveen (2, NB6, 6, 1, 1, 1, 6) to reduce a demanding target to an easily doable 34 off the last 30 balls.

Gopal, who had earlier claimed 3-33 to become the highest wicket taker with 16 scalps from 11 matches, batted with his customary flair and freedom, punishing anything dropped short or wide, while Ullal (77*, 58 balls, 6 fours, 3 sixes), who completed his maiden half-century, was more calculative and aggressive. Captain Sisodia (33, 24 balls, 4 fours, 1 six) and Mohammed Saha (27,18 balls, 2 four, 2 six) carried on from they had left off on Monday night as the Tigers were back on the prowl adding 56 runs in the powerplay compared to the 80 in the same period less than 24 hours ago. But once the openers and No.

 3 B U Shiva Kumar (6, 4 balls, 1 four) fell by the ninth over, the Tigers had lost much of the momentum. Though Swapnil Yelave (30, 25 balls, 4 fours) and M G Naveen (32, 24 balls, 2 fours, 2 sixes) added 53 runs for the sixth wicket and Abhimanyu Mithun contributed a quick-fire 15-ball 19 (1 six), it only boosted the total to 164, which eventually proved at least 25 runs short.

Brief scores: Hubli Tigers 164-7 (Luvnith Sisodia 33, Mohammed Taha 27, Swapnil Yelave 30, MG Naveen 32, Abhimanyu Mithun 19; Shreyas Gopal 3-33, Shubhang Hegde 2-20) lost to Mysore Warriors 165-5 in 19.1 overs (Nihal Ullal 77, Karun Nair 23, Pavan Deshpande 24, Shreyas Gopal 32; Anand Doddamani 4-27)