KPL 2018: Bulls thrash Tigers to enter final; Chipli opens up about his match-winning performance

The Bijapur Bulls romped home to a massive nine-wicket victory against the Hubli Tigers in the second semifinal of the Karnataka Premier League 2018 held in Mysuru.

Chasing 135 for victory, Bharath Chipli and MG Naveen played the knocks of their lives and took their side to one of the biggest ever victories in the tournament.

Unfortunately, the Bulls weren't able to achieve a 10 wicket victory as Chipli was dismissed in the 15th over after scoring 73 in just 46 deliveries.

In the end, MG Naveen and Shishir Bhavane ensured no further hiccups, winning the match in the 16th over.

In the first innings, Mohammed Taha and Abhishek Reddy got the Tigers off to a great start putting on a 47 run partnership for the first wicket.

However, once again, it was a spinner who got the vital breakthrough. The experienced KP Appanna removed Taha in the seventh over. The pacers performed as well as the spinners in the match though with Bhavesh Gulecha and Suresh Kamath picking up wickets and not allowing the batsmen to score too many runs.

Reddy was the architect of the first innings for the Bulls, scoring 42 runs. Unfortunately, the Tigers kept losing wickets at regular intervals. A mini blitz by Kranthi Kumar, in the end, helped his side reach 134 in their 20 overs. Appanna ended with two wickets, Cariappa got one, Kamath got one and Naveen MG got two.

In response, the Bulls' openers, MG Naveen and Bharath Chipli got them off to a good start with 37 runs in the Powerplay. They continued on from there and attacked the bowlers with aplomb, putting on a 125 run partnership for the first wicket.

Chipli opened up after his magnificent man of the match performance.

"It's a great feeling to win considering we lost the first game and two of our games were washed out. Even though we faltered a bit in the fielding, we performed really well, especially with the bat. Naveen and I put on a 100 run partnership which changed the match. Appanna and Carriappa bowled really well in the entire tournament. Our main bowlers didn't play but Suraj and Bhavesh bowled really well and stepped up," said Chipli to Sportskeeda.

He also opened up about his aggressive batting and how attacking the bowlers right from the outset helped them win

"That is my natural game and I am not going to curb it. At the end of the day, the required rate was 6.5. If we didn't get runs in the Powerplay, there would have been a lot of pressure. I'm glad we went for it and glad that it worked well and the way we batted was really good," he concluded.

After losing the final last year to the Belagavi Panthers, the Bulls will now have a chance to win the trophy once again - this time against the unbeaten Bengaluru Blasters.