Bengaluru, July 6 (IANS) Riding on an unbeaten century by Siddharth Akhil, the Coastal Kings Mangaluru scored an edge-of-the-seat three-wicket victory over the Hubli Tigers to keep their hopes of qualifying for the knockouts alive in the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 tournament at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Monday evening.

Chasing a stiff target of 214, the Coastal Kings were in deep trouble at 82-5 in 8.4 overs with opener Nikin Jose (27, 13 balls, 1 four, 3 sixes) and captain Karun Nair (11, 7 balls, 1 six) back in the pavilion.

But a young and talented Siddharth Akhil, coming in at No, 4, turned the tide single-handedly with a brave innings of 104 runs in 51 balls with four fours and 10 sixes. Needing seven runs off the last over, Akhil, son of the former cricketer Balachandra Akhil, struck a mighty six off the second ball to not only take his side to a thrilling and deserving victory but also complete his maiden Maharaja Trophy century.

Stringing together small but vital partnerships with the lower-order batsmen, the stylish left-hander rebuilt the innings. A 27-ball 58 with Prithviraj Shekhawat (18, 14 balls, 2 fours) for the seventh wicket put the Coastal Kings firmly back on track, and a decisive 32-ball 66 with Dheeraj Gowda (30, 15 balls, 2 fours, 2 sixes) got them over the line.

With their fourth victory in nine matches, the Coastal Kings took their points tally to nine and moved into third on the table with a match to spare.

For the Hubli Tigers, the result marks the end of their campaign as their sixth defeat from 10 matches leaves them at the bottom of the table on six points.

Earlier, Taha’s century was the highlight of the Tigers’ innings. Put into bat, the Tigers made a flying start, adding 69 runs in the power play and 114 runs for no loss by the 10th over. Openers Taha and Hardik Raj made their intentions very clear right from the beginning, losing no opportunity to score big.

Playing attacking strokes to all corners of the wicket, the duo added 162 runs in 90 balls before Raj retired in the 15th over with 66 runs in 39 balls (6 fours, 3 sixes) to let the middle order step on the pedal, but the Tigers only lost momentum and managed 51 runs in the final five overs.

Brief scores:

Hubli Tigers 213/6 in 20 overs (Hardik Raj ret 66, Mohammed Taha 114; Santokh Singh 2-14) lost to Coastal Kings Mangaluru 215/7 in 19.2 overs (Nikin Jose 27, Siddharth Akhil 104 not out, Dheeraj Gowda 30 not out; Shikhar Shetty 3-30; Aditya Goyal 3-41) by four wickets.

–IANS

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