Andhra put up another dominant performance to secure a six-wicket win over Kerala at Gymkhana Ground here on Tuesday to top the Group E points table with five wins from five games in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
Ricky Bhui’s decision to put Kerala in to bat in overcast conditions saw pacer C. Stephen trouble India star and Kerala captain Sanju Samson in a superb first over. The Kerala talisman was clueless to four consecutive balls which swung late.
But, it was the other pacer K. Sudharsan who produced an absolute beauty, beating the in-form Rohan Kunnummal (9) with sheer pace and late movement to clip the bails in the fourth over. Samson (7) mistimed a pull off pacer K.V. Sasikanth to be caught comfortably inside the circle.
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Jalaj Saxena leaned into a splendid six over covers of the first ball be faced from Sudharsan and late cut to the fence in the same over but soon Kerala batting was in disarray in the face of an impressive show by Andhra bowlers.
Sasikanth trapped Mohammed Azharuddeen (0) lbw and from the other end Sudarshan forced the dangerous Salman Nazir to play a loose shot to leave Kerala 47 for four in 7.3 overs. Kerala never really recovered from those early blows as it soon lost Vishnu Vinod (1)and Vinod Kumar (3) in quick succession. After Saxena was run out off a brilliant fielding effort by Sasikanth at covers, Kerala was reduced to 55 for seven in 11.5 overs, and was eventually bowled out for 87 in 18.1 overs.
Pacers Sudharsan, P.V.S.N. Raju and left-arm spinner Vinay took two wickets apiece.
Expectedly, Andhra, powered by an impressive knock by India star KS Bharat (56 n.o., 33b, 7×4, 2×6), was never really in a spot of bother chasing a mediocre target even as Saxena picked three wickets. Bharat finished off the match in style with two huge sixes of Abdul Bazith.