KPL 2015, Match 7: Hubli Tigers ready for Bijapur Bulls challenge

Bijapur Bulls bowlers go through their paces during their practice session

Hubballi, September 03, 2015: Victories in their opening games of the Karbonn Smart KPL 2015 notwithstanding, Hubli Tigers and Bijapur Bulls will have a task at hand when they clash in the first match of Sunday, September 6 here at the Rajnagar Stadium.

The Tigers gained their first points with a win against the Rockstars while the Bulls managed to defend an under par score against Bellary Tuskers.

Had not it been for Dikshanshu Negi’s four for nine, the Tigers might have sweated a lot more than they did. So to the Bulls, who defended 125, thanks to KC Cariappa and KP Appanna claiming three apiece in Bellary’s chase.

Tigers captain S. Arvind, buoyed by their first game, sent out a warning to all the other teams saying “Beware the tigers are on the prowl”. “The difference between success and failure is hard work and even after a good first game we will try to minimize our mistakes in our second game against the Bulls,” he added.

In both teams’ cases, the batting did not hold up as was expected. After a solid start with a big second partnership, Hubli lost their way when veteran and former India spinner Sunil Joshi came into the attack. The Bulls’ batsmen on the other hand looked out of sorts in the middle and but for rearguard serenity by skipper B. Akhil and small but useful contributions from the bowlers the team might perhaps not have crossed a hundred.

The Bulls will certainly expect their batsmen to put up a far better show than they dished out on Friday while Hubli will hope they overcome the middle order slump that pulled down their run rate after Pawan and Kunal had slammed good half centuries.

“The key is to stay grounded and follow our processes and execute our plans right. It is good to have a win behind us and we will look to build from there,” said Bulls skipper, B Akhil.

Teams:

Hubli Tigers: Sreenath Aravind (C), K.L.Rahul, Akshay S L, Kranthi Kumar, Pawan K B, Naveen B, Shashi Shekar, Prateek Jain, Chetan John Williams, Kiran A M, Suraj Sampath, Kunal Kapoor, Shivil Koushik, Dikshanshu Negi, Mohammad Taha, Rohan Raju, Nishanth Shekhawat, Abhinav Manohar, Aditya H N, Nithin Bhille

Bijapur Bulls: Akhil Balachandra (C), Samarth R, K.C.Cariappa, Abhimanyu Mithun, Robin Uthappa, Raghavendra C, K P Appanna, Vyshak V, Rajoo Bhatkal, Aditya Somanna, Suneel Raju, Sharath B R, Deepak Chougule, Nidesh M, Ritesh Bhatkal, Bharath B, Sharan Gouda, Raja Nayak