Hubli Tigers vs Bijapur Bulls, 13th Match Prediction 22 Aug 2019

KPL2019 season has almost reached the half-way mark with all the teams playing at least 3 matches. Both these teams are scrambling for points and are caught in a messy points table.  The impact of rain in earlier matches has neutralized the points table with shared points and the remaining matches find more importance in the context of the league. 

Defending Champions Bijapur Bulls are having a busy schedule with three back-to-back matches in three consecutive days. Bijapur Bulls has 3 points with a win, a loss and a rain-affected tie in their three matches played so far. Skipper Bharat Chipli has been in sublime form with 50+ scores in the last two matches. All-rounder MG Naveen and Raju Bhatkal have also contributed with 45 & 62 in the last two matches and are looking in a good rhythm with the bat. Middle-order batting is a bit of concern or their team as they failed to contribute enough runs till now. Prateek Jain and MG Naveen were instrumental with the ball in setting up the win last match with combined bowling figures of 8-0-34-3. KC Cariappa is having a bad season so far leaking runs at 10 RPO and is yet to take his first wicket. He is a quality player and we expect the team management to stick with him longer. 

Hubli Tigers are keeping their hopes alive with an excellent come from a back win in their last match against Belagavi Panthers. Earlier they ended up on the losing side against Shivamogga Lions and Bellary Tuskers. Mohammed Taha set up the chase with his valiant knock of 75 runs in 55 balls with 4 boundaries and five maximums. Luvinith Sisodia and KB Pawan played crucial cameos to build a partnership with Mohammed Taha. Praveen Dubey then played a blinder to finish off the chase in the final ball. He scored 28 runs off the last two overs single-handedly to win the match for his team. Mitrakanth Yadav is their leading wicket-taker with 5 wickets and he has at least a wicket to his name in the all three matches played so far. David Mathias and Adithya Somanna have taken 4 wickets each and providing wickets at regular intervals. Skipper Vinay Kumar is having a miserable time with the ball with a lone wicket in three matches and an economy rate of 8.5 RPO. 

Bangalore pitch has eased out and teams are posting scores in excess of 10 runs in the last 4 matches. We can expect a big score of range 160-180 runs in this match too.  Only 2 of the 6-night matches have been uninterrupted by rain. We expect scattered thunderstorms on the match day and VJD equation to play a role in match result.  

Three out of last 4 matches have been won by teams batting second and we hope the trend to continue in this match too. Rain interruption may further tilt the match in the favor of chasing team.