There are just two games left in the eighth edition of the Karnataka Premier League and it is time for the Belagavi Panthers to take on Hubli Tigers in order to decide which team will face Ballari Tuskers in the grand final on 31st August.
Belagavi Panthers find themselves in this situation after losing the Qualifier 1 against Ballari by 37 runs. Their opponent for the day, Hubli had to get past Shivamogga in the Eliminator on Thursday.
Skipper Vinay Kumar and KB Pawan came up with fifties while opener Mohammad Taha also contributed with a crucial 41-run knock to help Hubli post a daunting 191 as target for Shivamogga. Then, Hubli's bowling attack led by left-arm spinner Mithrakanth Yadav restricted Shivamogga to just 170 as the team won by 20 runs.
Squads to choose from
Belagavi Panthers: Mir Kaunian Abbas (C), Shubhang Hegde, Avinash D, D Negi, Abhinav Manohar, Arshdeep Singh Brar, Ritesh Bhatkal, Stalin Hoover, Darshan MB, Ravikumar Samarth, Zahoor Farooqui, Kiran AM, Rakshith S, Lochan Appanna, Darshan Machaiah, Abdul Majid.
Hubli Tigers: R Vinay Kumar (C), Praveen Dubey, Mohammed Taha, Pawan KB, Aditya Somanna, Shishir Bhavane, Vidyadhar Patil, Mahesh Patel, Abhilash Shetty, David Mathias, Shivil Kaushik, Suraj Seshadri, Mithrakanth Yadav, Vishwanath M, KL Srijith, Luvnith Sisodia, Parikshith Shetty, Dheeraj Shashidhar.
Playing XI Updates
Hubli are expected to go in with the same line-up while Dikshanshu Negi should replace Sharan Gowda in the Belagavi Panthers' playing 11.
Belagavi Panthers: Mir Kaunian Abbas (C), Stalin Hoover, Rakshith S, Ravikumar Samarth, Dikshanshu Negi, Abhinav Manohar, Shubhang Hegde, Ritesh Bhatkal, Avinash D, Darshan MB, Zahoor Farooqui.
Hubli Tigers: Mohammed Taha, Luvnith Sisodia (WK), R Vinay Kumar (C), Praveen Dubey, Pawan KB, KL Srijith, David Mathias, Shreyas Gopal, Aditya Somanna, Abhilash Shetty, Mithrakanth Yadav.
Match Details
Belagavi Panthers Vs Hubli Tigers, Karnataka Premier League, Qualifier 2
30th August 2019, 7.00 PM IST
SNR Wadiyar Ground, Mysore
Pitch Report
As has been the case through the Mysore leg, Thursday's Eliminator also saw a lot of runs being scored. There will be no change in that unless the weather gods change their script.
Fantasy Tips and Suggestions
Wicket-keeper: The wicket-keeper for this match will be KB Pawan. The experienced Hubli player is coming off an unbeaten 56 in the Eliminator against Shivamogga.
Batsmen: The three batsmen for this game will be Mohammad Taha, Ravikumar Samarth and Abhinav Manohar.
Mohammad Taha, the opening batsman for Hubli, can be trusted upon to get his side off to a good start. After scoring a quickfire 41 in the match against Shivamogga, Taha's run tally for this season has risen 190 runs from seven matches.
R Samarth has comparatively had an average tournament. Apart from a lone fifty against Bijapur Bulls, Samarth hasn't showcased his full potential till now. The all-important Qualifier 2 might just be the stage to get his second fifty.
Abhinav Manohar is not only the most underrated batsman among this trio but also the entire league. The middle-order batsman has gone under the radar but hasn't failed when it comes to performances. In the Qualifier 1, Abhinav scored a superb 62 off 39 balls in a losing cause.
All-rounders: There are a lot of quality players in this section and that will need us to pick four all-rounders.
Hubli skipper Vinay Kumar is an easy choice to start off. Even though he hasn't bowled a lot in this tournament, Vinay has consistently promoted himself and done well with the bat. In the last fixture, he came up with an important 55-run knock.
Similarly, Praveen Dubey has been consistent with the bat this year. Until now, Dubey has scored 182 runs in seven matches.
On the bowling front. Aditya Somanna has been superb for Hubli. He is the third-highest wicket-taker with 10 wickets this season.
The final all-rounder will be Belagavi's Stalin Hoover. Apart from scoring 183 runs, Hoover has also picked up three wickets.
Bowlers: D Avinash, MB Darshan and Mithrakanth Yadav will be the three picks for this encounter.
D Avinash and Darshan have been exceptional for Belagavi with their intelligent medium-pace bowling while Mithrakanth Yadav has done exceedingly well for Hubli by picking up 10 wickets so far. Mithrakanth is also the second-highest wicket-taker at this point.
Captain: Mohammad Taha will be the captain while Stalin Hoover will be a good pick for vice-captaincy. Alternate choices for captaincy will include Vinay Kumar, Shreyas Gopal and Abhinav Manohar.
Fantasy Suggestion #1: KB Pawan, Mohammad Taha (C), R Samarth, Abhinav Manohar, Vinay Kumar, Stalin Hoover (VC), Praveen Dubey, Aditya Somanna, Mithrakanth Yadav, D Avinash, MB Darshan.
Fantasy Suggestion #2: KB Pawan, Luvnith Sisodia, Mohammad Taha, R Samarth, Abhinav Manohar, Vinay Kumar (C), Stalin Hoover, Aditya Somanna, Mithrakanth Yadav, D Avinash, Shreyas Gopal (VC).
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