Sports Bureau
Southpaw Karan Shinde’s brilliant 75 (38b, 9×4, 4×6) helped Andhra pull off a two-wicket win over Bihar from a seemingly difficult position of 68 for five in 8.5 overs in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 cricket championship Elite Group D match at the Holkar Stadium in Indore on Tuesday.
This was Andhra’s second win in four games, after the first two were abandoned because of rain.
Chasing 182, Andhra was off to a dismal start as it lost opener Abhishek Reddy (one) in the first over. Soon, the dangerous-looking Ashwin Hebbar (24, 12b, 4×4, 1×6) and captain K. Srikar Bharat (five) were dismissed by pacer Abhijeet Saket, who bowled four overs on the trot and took three wickets.
Then, left-arm pacer Anuj Raj forced Hanuma Vihari (nine) to snick to wicketkeeper Bipin Saurabh, reducing Andhra to 47 for four in 5.2 overs.
Later, a match-winning stand of 92 off 52 balls between the experienced Ricky Bhui (37, 29b, 2×4, 1×6) and the young Shinde took Andhra closer to the target. The 25-year-old Shinde was the more dominant, capitalising on erratic bowling to play some extravagant strokes, watched by former India coach John Wright who is scouting talent for Mumbai Indians.
Shinde smacked pacer Harsh for three fours in the 17th over to shut Bihar out of the contest. K.V. Sasikanth executed a flat-batted six off left-arm pacer Anuj Raj to see Andhra finish with its best-ever chase in the championship history.
Earlier, wicketkeeper-batsman Bipin Saurabh (52, 39, 4×4, 3×6) and Babul Kumar (72, 50b, 10×4, 1×6) put on 118 in 13.5 overs with the latter being the more impressive with some audacious inside-out strokes off both pace and spin.
However, the Andhra bowlers did well in the slog overs to restrict Bihar to 181 for two despite breezy knocks from Sakibul Gani (33 n.o., 17b 2×4, 2×6) and Sachin Kumar Singh (19 n.o., 3×4).
