Vinay, Dubey turn it on for Hubli Tigers

Shivamogga Lions skipper Aniruddha Joshi did his side a huge favor by winning the toss in their Karbonn Smartphone Karnataka Premier League match against Hubli Tigers at the KSCA Rajnagar Stadium here on Sunday evening.

But his bowlers, after initially capitalizing on the opportunity to bowl first on a responsive wicket, let things slip, as did their fielders, and allowed the Hubli Tigers stage a recovery and post 160 for 7 from their allotted 20 overs.

The Shivamogga batsmen should have taken heart from Hubli’s comeback with the bat but try as they did, they simply weren’t good enough on the night. Their big-hitting star R Jonathan (29, 23b, 1x4, 1x6) played his part for a brief while but when he too fell to the guile of spinner Mahesh Patel (4-0-19-2), the writing was on the wall for Shivamogga, who eventually made

135/9, a good 25 runs short of the Hubli total. Not even a 29-minute rain stoppage towards the very end could help Shivammogga.

The men to turn it around for Hubli with the bat were skipper Vinay Kumar and Praveen Dubey.

Vinay joined Dubey with his side struggling at 68 for 4 from 12.3 overs. Left-arm spinner

Prithviraj Shekhawat had got rid of Sunil Kumar Jain and Nithin Bhille in a four-over spell of 4-0-18-2, when Vinay took charge. Slamming leggie Kishore Kamat for the first of his five sixes, Vinay, who later bowled his four overs for a mere 20 runs (4-0-20-1), then waded into medium pacer K Hoysala, slamming him for two maximums.

Vinay’s eventual 13-ball 35 (5x6) ended when he was brilliantly caught by Shekhawat, who ran back quite a distance from point to grab the skier, but the fifth wicket stand of 46 from 26 balls had served its purpose and also given the home crowd enough to cheer.

Dubey (43, 32b, 1x4, 2x6) then took over with some big hits of his own. At this point not only did the Shivamogga bowling wilt, so did their catching. Dubey was let off twice before being finally caught at the long on fence off Aditya Somanna.

This was off the first ball of the final over but Hubli weren’t done as yet. Somanna, who had bowled an opening spell of 2-0-14-1, was slammed for successive sixes off the final three balls, number nine MB Darshan doing the damage. Darshan faced three deliveries and all three were sent sailing over the fence. These were blows Shivammogga didn’t recover from.

Brief scores: Hubli Tigers: 160/7 in 20 overs (Praven Dubey 43, Vinay Kumar 35; K Hoysala 2-36, Prithviraj Shekhawat 2-18) bt Shivamogga Lions: 135/9 in 20 overs (R Jonathan 29; Kranthi

Kumar 2-29, Mahesh Patel 2-19, Darshan MB 2-37) by 25 runs.

Other details:

1. Karbonn Man of the match: Darshan MB

2. Fastrack player with the best flexes: Mahesh Patel

3. Lakshmi Vilas Bank- Most Bankable Player- Vinay Kumar

4. Cycle Most trusted player: Praveen Dubey