The commentary is not available for this match. Please check the scorecard for latest updates.
So that concludes our coverage of this contest but there's a huge weekend of action-packed cricket coming your way. Do join us at Sportskeeda for the coverage of that and keep yourselves updated with further cricketing news and action from around the world on this very platform. For the moment though, this is your host Sooryanarayanan Sesha taking your leave and thank you for being a part of this coverage. Have a great weekend - good night and take care!
The Hubli Tigers continue to call the shots in the Maharaja Trophy 2023. A close game but certainly one that will augur well for them ahead of the semifinals. As for the Shivamogga Lions, a promising campaign is suddenly hanging by a thread. They will start looking nervously at the mid-table logjam with other results also set to shape their fate as far as qualifying for the knockouts is concerned. Big weekend looming for them alright!
Manish Pandey (Hubli Tigers captain): Manish Pandey: It's better to have all the experiences that we can before the big game. It was good we tested our lower order and the way they finished the game was good. Especially Manvanth but Lavish was a surprise. We've already given rest to a few players who have done well for us and their workload has crossed the limit. But we would love to have a committed team tomorrow who are looking to win the game. (On Manvanth) The way he has been batting - even against Bangalore he batted really well and won us the game. Today obviously he was under a little bit of pressure but those sixes he scored off Shreyas took the pressure off him.
KL Shrijith is the Player of the Match for his fluent 41-ball 50!
Match Summary: Hubli Tigers beat Shivamogga Lions by 3 wickets.
Ah the low-scoring thrillers - who would say no to that eh? We witnessed one today at the Chinnaswamy Stadium and it surely was one that kept us at the edge of our seats. Between the Lions and the Tigers though, it's the latter who will roar louder - much like they have been all season.
A chase of 131 should have been straightforward but Shreyas Gopal had other ideas. A first-ball wicket courtesy a ripping googly set the tone for the Shivamogga Lions as they signaled their intentions to make a fist of this defense. Mohammed Taha stated different intentions of his own with a quickfire start but once he was dismissed by Gopal, it was followed by another one that sent Naga Bharath packing. He wasn't to stop with that though as the leggie dismissed his opposite number Manish Pandey, who got into a real tangle and played all around a length delivery that spun away.
Once again, it came down to KL Shrijith to steady the ship and he did so in the company of Praveen Dubey. The duo ran like cheetahs and converted the ones into twos to stay on par with the eight-ball. Dubey did well to shuffle across and get behind the line of the ball while manipulating the field at will too but his dismissal just broke the game open again.
Shrijith continued to waltz along and with Manvanth Kumar, put the Tigers right in front to overhaul the target. Shrijith raised a superb half-century and when Manvanth tore into Gopal's last over, it seemed as though the result was a formality. Both their dismissals came at untimely junctures though, putting more pressure on the Tigers. It went down to the wire but Lavish Kaushal came out of syllabus to cream a couple of sixes and shut the door on the Lions. That's now the Tigers' seventh win in nine games - boy have they been the standout team of the competition or what!
Take a bow, Lavish Kaushal! Fittingly, he's had the final say in this contest with his two sixes having a defining say in the outcome of this contest. The Tigers continue to roar and consolidate their top spot.
18.4 Kranthi Kumar to Lavish Kaushal, HUBLI TIGERS PREVAIL! Full around the off stump and Lavish taps the ball past short mid-wicket as it rolls towards long on. There's the single that sees them cross the finish line - Hubli Tigers win by 3 wickets with 8 deliveries to spare!
18.3 Kranthi Kumar to Lavish Kaushal, dug short outside the off stump. Lavish swats it without any timing to mid-on, no run
Around the wicket now.
Lavish has his arms aloft! The scores are level...
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S Gopal
P Dubey
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M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
