Bengaluru : Hubli Tigers continued their dominant run as they brought up their seventh win of the tournament and continued to stay at the top of the table in the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20. KL Shrijith’s half-century (50 off 41 balls) and Manvanth Kumar’s all-round show (2/20 and 27 off 21 balls) overshadowed Shreyas Gopal’s brilliance (31 off 31 balls and 4/30) as Hubli went on to beat the Shivamogga Lions by three wickets with eight balls to spare.

Put in to bat by Hubli Tigers, the Shivamogga Lions got off to a modest start scoring 44 runs for the loss of three wickets in the powerplay. Santokh Singh got rid of Nihal Ullal (9) and Vinay Sagar (0) off consecutive balls in the third over while Rohan Kadam (17), who was looking in good nick, having struck a six and four, was run out following a terrible mix-up with Rohit Kumar (18) in the fourth over.

While Rohit Kumar perished to Praveen Dubey in the tenth over, Abhinav Manohar (1) and Pranav Bhatia (0) were KC Cariappa’s victims the following over, at the end of which the score read 59-6. Kranthi Kumar (34) then accompanied skipper Shreyas Gopal (31) at the crease, putting together a partnership of 44 runs from 38 balls to bring some semblance to the Shivamogga innings before Gopal was dismissed in the beginning of the 18th over.

Manvanth Kumar picked up the wickets of Kranthi Kumar and Aditya Somanna (0) off successive balls in the final over and Adhoksh Hegde was run out on the final ball as the Hubli Tigers bowled Shivamogga out for 130 in 20 overs. For Hubli, KC Cariappa (2/17), Manvanth Kumar (2/20) and Santokh Singh (2/26) picked two wickets apiece.

Shivamogga skipper Shreyas Gopal was all over the Hubli Tigers in the second innings, picking up the wickets of MB Shivam (0), Md. Taha (12), Naga Bharath (0) and counterpart Manish Pandey (3) within the powerplay. KL Shrijith (50) stood tall from the other end, scoring 23 runs to take the score to 41-4 by the end of the sixth over.

Praveen Dubey (18) was bowled by Pranav Bhatia in the tenth over to leave Hubli tottering on 71-5 at the halfway mark when Manvanth Kumar (27) walked out to bat. Kumar took on Shreyas Gopal as he struck three sixes in the 14th over to ease the pressure on the chase. KL Shrijith went on to bring up his half-century in 38 balls before he was dismissed by V Koushik. Kranthi Kumar then accounted for the wicket of Manvanth Kumar in the 17th over.

Needing just 17 runs from the last three overs, two sixes from pacer Lavish Kaushal (14*) ensured that the Hubli Tigers went on to win by three wickets with eight balls to spare.

Hubli Tigers won by 3 wickets with 8 balls to spare

Brief Scores: Shivamogga Lions 130/10 in 20 overs: (Kranthi Kumar 34, Shreyas Gopal 31, Rohit Kumar 18, KC Cariappa 2/17, Manvanth Kumar 2/20, Santokh Singh 2/26) vs Hubli Tigers 131/7 in 18.4 overs: (KL Shrijith 50, Manvanth Kumar 27, Praveen Dubey 18, Shreyas Gopal 4/30, V Koushik 1/15, Kranthi Kumar 1/23).