That marks the end of our coverage from the qualifier 1 of the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 2025 between Hubli Tigers and Mangaluru Dragons. Hubli Tigers have come out victorious by a huge margin of 110 runs and have qualified for the finals. Up next, we have the eliminator to come. Bengaluru Blasters and Gulbarga Mystics are locking horns in that match. Mystics have been sent to bat first.
For now, this is Saptak Sanyal signing off from this game on behalf of my co-commentators Deepak Prakash and Pritam Dey and the scorer/analyst of this game Zeeshan Naiyer.
Devdutt Padikkal (Hubli Tigers Captain):"It was a perfect performance. I am happy that everyone chipped in and contributed. We needed a rest day and glad to get that. We are really happy to win the game. We have one game left and we are keen to win that game too."
Player of the Match: Devdutt Padikkal
Devdutt Padikkal receives the orange cap for scoring 439 runs in this tournament so far.
Time for the post-match presentations.
7:24 PM IST and Local Time | Hubli Tigers have obliterated the Mangaluru Dragons and qualified for the grand finale of the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 2025. Hubli Tigers' gargantuan victory by 110 runs means that the Dragons will have to come up again for the second qualifier tomorrow.
Devdutt Padikkal and Mohammed Taha opened the batting for the Hubli Tigers. They took their team off to a good start. They added 81 runs in their opening stand in the first 10 overs. Taha was dismissed by Ronit More on 37 but the things turned south for the Dragons after that. Abhinav Manohar was sent up in the order and the idea proved to be a sensational one. Manohar and Padikkal added 105 runs from just 48 balls and that bettered the entire scenario for the Hubli Tigers. Manohar got dismissed shortly after completing his half century by Kranthi Kumar. But Manvanth Kumar and Devdutt Padikkal added 24 in the final couple of overs. Manvanth remained unbeaten on 16 and Padikkal became slower in the death overs. He finished with 99 unbeaten runs beside his name off 64 balls. He hit 10 fours and 5 sixes in his stay. Hubli Tigers finished with 210/2 in their 20 overs.
Just when the Tigers' innings ended rain interrupted the game for half an hour but that didn't reduce any over. In pursuit of the 211-run target, Mangaluru Dragons looked out of sorts right from the word go. They lost Sharath BR cheaply for 1. The other opener Lochan Gowda found a few boundaries in the start but failed to sustain. He found Padikkal off Bhatkal on 14. Then Thippa Reddy and Aneesh KV registered a 31-run stand for the 3rd wicket. Thippa got out and Macneil Noronha came in. Noronha started his innings with a maximum but inside edged one to Shivkumar Rakshith off Ritesh Bhatkal.
Aneesh KV was not playing the ideal innings to chase down the hefty total but was playing better than most other batters. He also found Padikkal off Shreesha Achar on 28 and after that, the Dragons surrendered. Aadarsh Prajwal hit a couple of maximums on his way to score 17 and that was the only significant contribution after that. Eventually, the Dragons were bundled out for a paltry 100-run total and got defeated by 110 runs.
For the Hubli Tigers, all the ten wickets were taken by the spinners. Ritesh Bhatkal took three wickets for 20 runs. Shreesha Achar, KC Cariappa and Yash Punja took a couple of wickets each. Nathan D'Mello came in as the impact player and he removed Sachin Shinde.