Captain Aneeshwar Gautam led Hubli Tigers to a commanding seven-wicket victory over defending champions Mysore Warriors in the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 tournament.
Following a washed-out opening fixture against Coastal Kings Mangaluru, the Tigers made a strong statement in their first completed match of the season with a comfortable chase of 162 at the Srikantadatta Narasimha Raja Wadiyar Ground on Monday. They reached the target at 162/3 with 15 balls remaining.
The innings started with an early loss as Preethesh Ingle was dismissed without scoring, caught by Lavish Kaushal off the second ball. Mohammad Taha and Mayank Agarwal then stabilised the innings by attacking the Mysuru bowlers. Taha was particularly aggressive against short and wide deliveries, scoring 47 runs from Vyshak Vijaykumar’s four overs, who had a difficult spell.
The pair added 49 runs in 4.3 overs for the second wicket before Agarwal was out for 19 from 11 balls, including three boundaries. Taha reached his half-century off 31 balls with a six over midwicket that cleared the stadium. He finished on 57 from 38 balls, hitting five fours and three sixes, before being dismissed with 41 runs still required.
Gautam then anchored the innings with an unbeaten 60 from 41 balls, including two fours and four sixes. Abhinav Manohar remained not out on 16 to complete the innings and secure the victory.
Mysore Warriors had started well with contributions from L R Chethan (18), S U Karthik (35), Ritesh Bhatkal (46), and K P Karthikeya (27), but failed to build on solid foundations. After reaching 99/2 in the 11th over, the team collapsed, losing eight wickets for 62 runs. The lower order offered little resistance as the Warriors were bowled out for 161 in 19.2 overs.
Hardik Raj and L R Kumar took three wickets each to spark the collapse and set up the Hubli Tigers’ chase.
Brief scores: Mysore Warriors 161 all out in 19.2 overs (Ritesh Bhatkal 46, S U Karthik 35, K P Karthikeya 27, L R Chethan 18; Hardik Raj 3/25, L R Kumar 3/14) lost to Hubli Tigers 162/3 in 17.3 overs (Aneeshwar Gautam 60*, Mohammad Taha 57, Mayank Agarwal 19, Abhinav Manohar 16*; Madhav Bajaj 2/27).