M Hemanth Reddy snatched victory from the jaws of death with an unbeaten century as Andhra posted an unlikely five-wicket win over Punjab in Super League Group A of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in Pune on Sunday. Replying to Punjab’s 205 for five, Andhra made 211 for five with a ball to spare as Hemanth struck an unbeaten century.
Punjab will be ruing their undisciplined approach with the ball as the bowlers conceded 16 extras, 10 of them being wides and four no-balls. In what turned out to be tight game, this was too much of a margin to give to the rival side.
At one stage, Punjab had Andhra on the ropes as the top order faltered badly and it looked it was game over before it even began. Andhra made a poor start with Ashwin Hebbar (4) falling off the third ball of the first over and former India player KS Bharat (1) going two balls later. Both were snared by pacer Gurnoor Brar, who had a good day with the cherry as he bagged three for 23.
Another India player Nitish Kumar Reddy lasted only two balls and didn’t trouble the scorers. Ayush Goyal had him caught b Harnoor Singh for a duck. Skipper Ricky Bhui added 23 with Hemanth but fell to Gurnoor Brar for 15. Pyla Avinash joined Hemanth but could manage to score 13 and add 21 for the fifth wicket.
At 56 for five, the game was almost over for Andhra but Hemanth and newman SDNV Prasad had other ideas. Hemanth took charge of the proceedings. Hemanth scored most of his runs in boundaries as he went after the Punjab attack. His 109 came off just 53 balls with 11 fours and seven sixes. Prasad remained unbeaten on 53 off 35 balls with two boundaries and four over it.
Hemanth scored 91 of the 155 runs scored by the duo. Fittingly enough, Hemanth struck a six to finish off the game and help Andhra post their first win and take four points home. Hemanth bagged the Man of the Match award too.
Hemanth breaks several records
Hemanth broke several records in the process and most of them were in the name of his skipper Bhui. Hemanth’s 109 is the highest individual score in T20s for Andhra, surpassing Bhui’s 108. He has also broken the record for most runs in boundaries (86) in an innings in T20s for Andhra, going past Bhui’s 80.
Hemanth and Prasad’s 155-run partnership is Andhra’s highest for any wicket in T20s, breaking the record of 150 between Girinath Reddy and Bhui. It is also Andhra’s highest for the 6th wicket in T20s, breaking the record of 92 between Bhui and Karan Shinde.
Earlier, Punjab batters posted a healthy 205 in 20 overs with Anmolpreet Singh making a topscore of 47 and Ramandeep Singh and Harnoor Singh getting 43 and 42 respectively.
SCOREBOARD
Punjab: Harnoor Sinigh b Nitish 42, Prabhsimran Singh (run out – Saurabh) 20, Anmolpreet Singh c Hemanth b Prithvi 47, Naman Dhir c Nitish b Saurabh 3, Salil Arora (not out) 42, Ramandeep Singh c Nitish b Raju 43, Sanvir Singh (not out) 1; Extras: (W7) 7. Total: (For five in 20 overs) 205.
Fall of wickets: 1-41, 2-80, 3-89, 4-135, 5-191.
Bowling: Nitish Kumar Reddy 4-0-39-1, Satyanarayana Raju 4-0-45-1, Saurabh Kumar 4-0-24-1, Prithvi Raj 4-0-53-1, Bailapudi Yeshwanth 2-0-23-0, M Hemanth Reddy 2-0-21-0.
Andhra: KS Bharat c Prabhsimran b Brar 1, Ashwin Hebbar lbw Brar 4, M Hemanth Reddy (not out) 109, Nitish Kumar Reddy c Harnoor b Goyal 0, Ricky Bhui c Sanvir b Brar 15, Pyla Avinash b H Brar 13, SDNV Prasad (not out) 53; Extras: (B1, LB1, NB4, W10) 16. Total: (For five wickets in 19.5 overs) 211.
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-7, 3-12, 4-35, 5-56.
Bowling: Gurnoor Brar 4-0-23-3, Ayush Goyal 3-0-37-1, Ashwani Kumar 4-0-47-0, Harpreet Brar 3.5-0-28-1, Naman Dhir 1-0-19-0, Ramandeep Singh 3-0-37-0, Sanvir Singh 1-0-18-0.
