KPL 2018: Blasters qualify for playoffs after clinical victory over Tigers
The Bengaluru Blasters achieved yet another win in the Karnataka Premier League by defeating the Hubli Tigers by 6 wickets in the second match of the day held in Mysuru.
After the first match which saw over 400 runs scored, the second match was completely different, but still tight, going down till the very last over.
After a heavy bout of rain which lasted for about half an hour, play was reduced to 18 overs per side. The Blasters put Hubli in to bat first and got off to the best possible start, picking up three wickets in the first couple of overs.
The fourth wicket fell soon as well, however, the ship was steadied by a big partnership between Praveen Dubey and R Vinay Kumar, with the former scoring 48 runs.
A few contributions in the end from the bat of Kranthi Kumar and AM Kiran saw the Tigers post a total of 117 on the board in 18 overs.
Koushik V was the pick of the bowlers as he picked up two wickets and conceded just 5 runs in his three overs.
Shreyas Gopal, who came back from his India A duty, played his first match of the tournament but did not have a great outing as he took just one wicket and conceded over 30 runs in three overs.He couldn't contribute with the bat either, scoring just 5 runs.
However, the rest of the Blasters' batsmen provided worthy contributions with the bat, thus helping take their side over the line. Robin Uthappa ended up scoring 31 while KB Pawan scored 29.
After Uthappa's wicket, the Tigers roared back into the game, making it an extremely tight contest. Fortunately for the Blasters, Pavan Deshpande's knock of 28 helped take his side over the line in the end.
The Blasters stay on top of the table and have qualified for the playoffs.