Hubli Tigers defeated Mangaluru Dragons to ensure a first-place finish on the points table in the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 here on Saturday.
Manvanth Kumar (5/33) put on a brilliant display of bowling, before Mohammed Taha (51 off 23 balls) and skipper Manish Pandey (56 n.o. off 33 balls) took Hubli to a comfortable five-wicket win.
Put into bat, Mangaluru rode on a 60-run second-wicket partnership between Rohan Patil (34) and K.V. Siddharth (53) to finish with 167 for nine. B.R. Sharath (40) also got among the runs.
Hubli pacer Manvanth Kumar had a field day, picking up his first five-for of the tournament.
Taha gave Hubli a blazing start. Despite the fall of Naga Bharath (14) and K.L. Shrijith (4) in the fifth over, the flow of runs was not impeded as Taha recorded his half century in 21 balls.
Manish then ensured that Hubli reached the target in 18.2 overs.
In another encounter, Mysuru Warriors cruised to an eight-wicket win over Gulbarga Mystics.
The scores: Mangaluru Dragons 167/9 in 20 overs (K.V. Siddharth 53, B.R. Sharath 40, Rohan Patil 34, Manvanth Kumar 5-33) lost to Hubli Tigers 170/5 in 18.2 overs (Manish Pandey 56 n.o., Mohammed Taha 51, Anand Doddamani 3-34).
Gulbarga Mystics 153/7 in 20 overs (L.R. Chethan 34, S. Sharath 26, MacNeil Noronha 25, J. Suchith 3/28) lost to Mysuru Warriors 154/2 in 18 over (R. Samarth 62 n.o., Lankesh 39 n.o.).
