In a pulsating finish that went to the wire, Hubli Tigers snatched a brilliant four-wicket win over Belagavi Panthers in the penultimate ball of the KPL encounter at the picturesque KSCA Stadium in Rajnagar on Thursday evening.
Set a target of 178 for a win in 20 overs, Hubli Tigers batsmen launched a superb fightback to register an outstanding win.
Mohammed Taha, the opener, was in superb touch and took on accomplished bowlers R Vinay Kumar and HS Sharath with a series of wonderful strokes. The best part of his batting was his fearless hitting through the line and the willingness to loft and cut at the slightest opportunity.
Taha (43; 18b, 4x6, 3x4) set the tone for the reply and later, man of the match Dikshanshu Negi(57 n.o; 43b, 2x6, 3x4) took over. He was not as flamboyant as Taha but kept the scorers busy.
In between, KN Bharath (17), Chetan Williams (17), Stalin Hoover (14) all chipped away at the target. Finally, the left-handed Sarfraz Ashraf (14 n.o; 6b, 2x4) was with Negi when they went hammer and tongs in the last two overs.
They hammered 17 runs in the 19th over sent down by Vinay Kumar and nine runs in the last over to take the side home.
Earlier, Hubli Tigers opted to send Belagavi Panthers into bat and almost came acropper. Panthers’ skipper Vinay Kumar promoted himself to number three in the batting order and along with opener Mayank Agarwal (42; 28b, 1x6, 5x4), clobbered the attack in a 79-run second wicket partnership in only 56 balls.
Vinay, who top scored with 70 (52b, 2x6, 5x4), added 67 runs with Kaunian Abbas (40; 29b, 3x4) for the third wicket as Panthers posted a healthy total of 177 for 5 in the allotted 20 overs.
The target might have been stiff, but Tigers clawed their way back into the match and won with a ball to spare.
Brief scores:Belagavi Panthers: 177/5 (Vinay Kumar 70, Mayank Agarwal 42, Kunian Abbas 40, S Arvind 2/32) lost to Hubli Tigers: 179/6 in 19.5 overs (Dikshanshu Negi 57 n.o, Md. Taha 43, Praveen Dubey 3/34) by four wickets
Points Table Updated at the End of Belagavi panthers vs Hubli Tigers:
| Team | Matches | Won | Lost | Tied | NR | Points | NRR |
| Mysuru Warriors | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2.64 |
| Hubli Tigers | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0.336 |
| Belgavai Panthers | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.458 |
| Mangalore United | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0.745 |
| Bijapure Bulls | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0.016 |
| Namma Shivamogga | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.59 |
| Bellary Tuskers | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -0.644 |
| Rock Stars | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -4.15 |
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