Bengaluru: Andhra Pradesh beat Karnataka by 18 runs in the decider to seal the series in the Champions Trophy Men’s Bilateral T20 Cricket Tournament for the Blind being played here at the Lakshyan Cricket Ground, Chokkasandara. Andhra captain T. Durga Rao smashed his second consecutive century of the tournament helping Andhra to another 200-plus total in the series.
Winning the toss, Karnataka Captain Javare Gowda send Andhra to bat first. In-form batters T. Durga Rao and D. Venkateswara Rao continued their fine form in the series by stitching together an opening wicket stand of 127 runs in 13 overs. Venkateswara was dismissed by Basappa Waddagolu after a fine innings of 65 runs of 44 balls with the help of 10 boundaries. Durga Rao continued to score runs from one end even though he lost partners regularly. He was dismissed in the 18th over after putting Andhra in a strong position. He scored 103 runs of 56 balls with the help of 16 boundaries. Karnataka chipped in with wickets towards the death overs to restrict Andhra to 206/6 in 20 overs. Other than the openers, only Ajay Kumar Reddy scored in double figures. M. Sai Krishna and Basappa Waddagolu scalped a wicket each.
In reply, Karnataka started brightly with openers Prakash Jayaramaiah and Lokesha started brightly. They were on course to the target and stitched together an opening partnership of 121 runs in 13.3 overs before Prakash was dismissed for 57 of 45 balls. Basappa Waddagolu was dismissed in the very next ball. The previous match’s hero, Sunil Ramesh joined Lokesha in the middle who was dismissed in the 15th over after scoring a well-made 55 of 42 balls. Sunil was soon dismissed for 28 runs with the score reading 167 and Karnataka 40 runs away from victory. His wicket triggered a collapse in the innings and the hosts lost wickets continuously and ended their chase at 188/8 in 20 overs. T. Durga Rao, D. Venkateswara Rao and A. Ravi took a wicket each for Andhra.
Brief Scores
Andhra Pradesh – 206/6 in 20 Overs (T. Durga Rao – 103, D. Venkateswara Rao – 65; M. Sai Krishna – 1/17, Basappa Waddagolu – 1/36) beat Karnataka – 188/8 in 20 Overs (Prakash Jayaramaiah – 57, Lokesha – 55, Sunil Ramesh – 28; A. Ravi – 1/4, D. Venkateswara Rao – 1/21, T. Durga Rao – 1/28)
Individual Awards
K. Srinadh of Andhra Pradesh was adjudged the best player in the B1 category while D. Venkateswara Rao of Andhra and Sunil Ramesh of Karnataka bagged the honours in the B2 and B3 categories respectively.
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