Hemanth Reddy’s unbeaten 109 powers Andhra to thrilling win over Punjab

Hemanth Reddy smashed an unbeaten 109 to guide Andhra to a thrilling five-wicket win over Punjab in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Super League A match in Pune. His partnership with SD Prasad sealed the chase of 206 runs

Pune: Young Andhra batter Hemanth Reddy showed great determination against hostile Punjab bowling as he smashed an unbeaten 109 to lead his side to a thrilling five-wicket win in a high-scoring Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Super League A match here Sunday.

Reddy, playing only his second career SMAT game, saw the entire Andhra top and middle order collapse, leaving them in trouble at 56 for 5 while chasing 206 for victory. But the 23-year-old, who has played most of his cricket in the Andhra Premier League, came up with his career-best performance, blazing to a 53-ball 109 with 11 boundaries and seven sixes as Andhra reached 211/5 on the penultimate ball of the match.

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Tall Punjab pacer Gurnoor Brar (3/23) made life difficult for Andhra batters, removing openers Srikar Bharat (1) and Ashwin Hebbar (4) in the very first over, reducing the opponents to 2 for 7. Brar, a former net bowler for five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians who was bought for Rs 1.3 crore by Gujarat Titans ahead of the 2025 season, struck again in the fifth over by dismissing Andhra skipper Ricky Bhui (15).

In between, pacer Ayush Goyal also got the wicket of India all-rounder Nithish Kumar Reddy as Andhra reeled at 35 for 4, which quickly became 56 for 5 in the ninth over. Needing someone to counter the Punjab bowlers and also play sensibly, Reddy stepped up.

Coming in at No.3, Reddy, who last played a Ranji Trophy group match against Hyderabad without much success, negotiated the early overs with caution before accelerating even as wickets fell at the other end. He finally got a reliable partner in SD Prasad (53 not out off 35 balls) and the pair stitched together an unbeaten 155-run stand for the sixth wicket to guide Andhra home.

The thrilling win put Andhra’s campaign back on track following their four-wicket loss to Madhya Pradesh in a low-scoring match, while Punjab bowed out of the SMAT season after their six-wicket defeat against Jharkhand in a high-scoring game.

For Nithish Kumar, this was a second successive disappointing show after his 25 against Madhya Pradesh. Earlier, Harnoor Singh (42) and skipper Prabhsimran Singh (20) gave Punjab a promising start. Anmolpreet Singh (47), Salil Arora (42) and Ramandeep Singh (43) then made useful contributions as Punjab managed a competitive total.

Brief Scores: Punjab: 205 for 5 in 20 overs (Harnoor Singh 42, Anmolpreet Singh 47, Salil Arora 42, Ramandeep Singh 43). Andhra: 211 for 5 in 19.5 overs (M Hemanth Reddy 109 not out, SDNV Prasad 53 not out; Gurnoor Brar 3/23).