KPL 2018: Taha leads the Tigers to an easy victory

The Hubli Tigers romped home to a relatively easy win against the Bijapur Bulls in the second match of the Karnataka Premier League 2018.

Being held at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium once again, the match begun on time once unlike yesterday, which saw a lot of rain take place. We also witnessed a minute's silence each for the late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who passed away today, and the late cricketer Ajit Wadekar, who passed away yesterday.

After winning the toss, last year's finalists, the Bulls, decided to bat first. They kept losing wickets at regular intervals right from the beginning of the innings and none of their batsmen were able to stick around at the crease for a long time.

The Tigers bowled extremely well led by captain R Vinay Kumar, who picked up a wicket in his very first over. The stars of the bowling attack, however, were the spinners, Mahesh Patel and Anil IG, the former who picked up 3 wickets and the latter who picked up 2 wickets.

The Bulls were going at less than six runs per over for the majority of the innings and at one point, it looked like they would not even cross 120.

However, MG Naveen saved the day for the Bulls scoring a quickfire 38. If not for him, they would have surely fallen short of the 120 run mark.

In reply, Hubli Tigers started off extremely well with Mohammed Taha taking the attack to the opposition bowlers. He did get three lives during his innings though, dropped twice and getting out on a no-ball to KC Cariappa, who bowled well otherwise.

The Bulls clawed their way back into the game in the final few overs with some extremely tight bowling by Cariappa, Suneel, and Farooqui. However, it was a little too late as the Tigers roared to victory.

The final match of the Bengaluru leg will take place tomorrow between the home side Bengaluru Blasters and Ballari Tuskers.

The second leg of the tournament will take place in Hubli from August 19-26 before the final leg of the tournament in Mysuru.