Published: June 14, 2026 at 9:38 am
Riding on P Arjun Tendulkar’s half-century and a disciplined bowling attack, Kakinada Kings posted a 34-run win over Tungabadra Warriors in their Andhra Premier League (APL) match at the ACA-VDCA International Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Saturday night.
Electing to bat first after skipper G Manish won the toss, Kakinada Kings were off to a rollicking start as openers M Abhishek Reddy and Arjun Tendulkar made merry. The duo added 88 off 65 balls for the first wicket before Abhishek was caught by Anand off G Mallikarjuna after making 32, which came off 34 balls and contained three fours.
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Arjun Tendulkar and P Tapaswi then combined forces to take Kakinada Kings past the 100-run mark at a brisk pace. They added 32 off just 12 balls with Tapaswi doing the bulk of the scoring before falling to Mallikarjuna, caught by Jayanth. He blazed three sixes and two fours in his 9-ball 29.
Arjun Tendulkar fell two runs later as he was caught by Deepak off SH Srinivas. Tendulkar had made a 35-ball 51 with eight hits to the fence.
Thereafter, Kakinada Kings lost a bit of steam as they lost wickets at regular intervals. M Yuvan made 26 off 18 balls with two fours and a six but the thrust at the death was provided by G Samanvith who made an unbeaten 27 off seven balls with four mighty sixes.
Kakinada Kings ended with 189 for six in their 20 overs.
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SH Srinivas took two for nine in his two overs and G Mallikarjuna bagged two for 25 in three overs.
Tungabadra Warriors made a poor start as they lost opener KSS Jayanth (14) with 15 on the board in the second over. However, MS Samanyu Datta and skipper CR Gnaneshwar added 60 runs for the second wicket to stabilize the innings. However, the asking run-rate kept piling up and that put pressure on the batters.
Gnaneshwar fell for 25, G Rohit departed after making six, M Datta Reddy was dismissed for four, and Samanyu Datta went after making a 40-ball 45 with five fours and a six.
Tungabadra Warriors were reduced to 98 for five in the 15th over. When it looked like the battle was over, K Anand Josiah and Saurabh Kumar took up the challenge as they fought valiantly. Anand Josiah, in particular, took the battle to the rival camp with a scintillating batting display. He hammered three fours and two sixes in his 16-balll 33 before fall to Giri. Josiah and Saurabh added 45 off 24 balls for the sixth wicket.
Once Josaih fell, the war had ended as Tungabadra Warriors ended up with 155 for seven in 20 overs.
M Anjaneylu, S Ashish and V Giri Prasad took two wickets apiece.
G Samanvith was named Player of the Match.
Brief scores: Kakinada Kings 189 for 6 in 20 overs (M Abhishek Reddy 32, P Arjun Tendulkar 51, P Tapaswi 29, M Yuvan 26, G Samanvith 27 not out; G Mallikarjuna 2/25, SH Srinivas 2/9) beat Tungabadra Warriors 155 for seven in 20 overs (MS Samanyu Datta 45, CR Gnaneshwar 25, K Anand Josiah 33; M Anjaneyulu 2/22, S Ashish 2/33, V Giri Prasad 2/34).
