Captain Luvnith Sisodia cracked a brilliant half-century and so did B.U. Shiva Kumar as the Hubli Tigers put on quite a show against the Shivamogga Strikers on Friday, winning by 8 wickets.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The stars of the day would have also been motivated by the presence of IPL scouts from Chennai Super Kings, KKR and Lucknow Super Giants at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Batting first, the Strikers' opening pair of Sharath B.R. and Stallin Hoover got off to a great start, making good use of the gaps in the powerplay during a solid partnership. The duo were scoring at a good rate, close to 9 runs an over, as they put on a stand of 78 runs before Hoover (38) became the first wicket to fall at the start of the 10th over.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Sharath (36) departed in the over after that and was followed by Desmond Antony (7), as the Strikers had a bit of a wobble. Siddharth (23), however, was doing all he could to keep up the scoring rate, before he too made the long walk back to the hut.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
In the middle-order, Chaitanya S. added 32 runs to the cause to help the Strikers close out the innings with the score at 146\/5, the organisers informed in a release.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Chasing what looks like a tricky target, the Hubli Tigers' openers B.U. Shiva Kumar and Luvnith Sisodia were in prime form, thwarting the Strikers' bowling and staying ahead of the required run rate.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Scoring at a brisk rate, the openers ensured that the Strikers would not be able to pick the early wickets, driving the score to 49\/0 in 6 overs. From then on in, the duo kept chipping away with Sisodia bringing up his half-century in style, with a monster six in the 11th over of the innings. Sisodia though could get on 62 and was the first to depart after the openers had put on a century stand.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Soon after, Abhimanyu Mithun (1) was dismissed before Shiva Kumar got to his half-century, as the Tigers approached the finish line. Shiva Kumar had Liyan Khan for company, and the duo wasted in completing the task.<\/p>\r\n\r\n