In a repeat of the 2025 final, Hubli Tigers beat Mysore Warriors in the summit clash of the 2026 chapter to win its second Maharani Trophy crown at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on August 1.
Chasing 162 for a win, the Tigers were powered by Niki Prasad’s unbeaten half century as they sealed a memorable triumph in a nervy finish that went right down to the wire.
Tigers captain Vrinda Dinesh won the toss and opted to chase.
Shubha Satheesh and Sheetal Santosh’s 94-run partnership off 60 balls powered the Warriors, but Niki prevented a century stand by dismissing Sheetal at the halfway mark. Niki also removed Shubha in the 14th over to slow down the scoring. Partnerships were hard to come by thereafter, with the Tigers striking at regular intervals to prevent any kind of final flourish. Niki finished with three wickets, but was expensive, registering an economy rate of 10.5. She also took three catches and effected two run outs.
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In their response, Tigers lost captain Vrinda in the second over. C. Pratyoosha and Niki then stitched 57-run partnership off 30 balls to steady the chase before Sahana Pawar claimed the former’s wicket. Niki, thereafter, watched personnel come and go, doing much of the heavy lifting herself. Her 21-run stand off 11 balls with Rameshwari, who was retired out with the chase getting tense, brought the Tigers back in the game, with Niki sealing a famous triumph off the last ball.
While Warriors’ Shubha topped scoring charts for the season with 362 runs from seven matches, Tigers had heavy representation in the standings with three players in the top five: Niki (331 runs), Prathyoosha (262) and Vrinda (256).
Niki, for her allround repertoire and performances this season, won the Player of the Match and Player of the Tournament honours.
Ahead of the season, the U-19 World Cup-winning Indian captain had hailed the impact the tournament would have on women’s cricket in Karnataka.
“I think with Maharani coming into the picture, it’s going to give exposure to other young cricketers to be competing with a lot of senior cricketers. They’ll also have a lot of confidence getting to play in Chinnaswamy Stadium, when they’re getting to play under floodlights. When they come into the senior team it won’t be new for them,” she had told Sportstar.
“It’s even a good platform because there are WPL scouts watching us. Because it’ll be telecasted, everyone will be watching us. So, I think performing over there and winning matches for your team at this level is going to be really good for us.”
Niki plays for Delhi Capitals in the Women’s Premier League and will hope to see some of her statements break into the league after their successful campaign.
Published on Aug 02, 2026
