K Himateja’s unbeaten century powers Khammam Aces to victory

K Himateja smashed an unbeaten 103 to guide Anvita Khammam Aces to a 19-run victory over Medak Falcons in the Sreenidhi University TG20 League. The win lifted the Aces to second place, while the Falcons remained at the bottom of the standings

Hyderabad: K Himateja cracked a match-winning century (103 n.o., 57b, 11×4, 4×6) to fashion Anvita Khammam Aces’ 19-run win against Medak Falcons in the Sreenidhi University TG20 League cricket championship at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Monday.

The Aces have now moved to second place with 10 points from seven games, even as Hyderabad E-Champions stayed at the top with 12 points from six games.

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The Falcons, with just two points and six losses from seven games, are at the bottom of the points table.

Earlier, Himateja’s ton was largely responsible for Anvita Khammam Aces scoring 190 for five in 20 overs.

The only other batter who showed the desired discipline was wicketkeeper-batter Prateek Reddy (32, 29b, 2×4).

For the Falcons, T Ravi Teja (two for 48) bowled well, while the others, including pacer Kartikeya Kak, Madhukar Manne, Arjun Gorrapalli and Sashanth Budthi, bowled economical spells.

In reply, Medak Falcons got off to a flying start, scoring 57 in 5.1 overs before opener Naman Agarwal (32, 19b, 3×4, 2×6) was caught behind off Vidyananda Reddy.

The Falcons paid dearly for not being able to build any decent partnerships later on as they lost wickets at regular intervals in the face of tight, if not menacing, bowling.

The only notable contributions came from opener Shrunjith Reddy (60, 46b, 6×4, 3×6) and Surya Teja (26, 19b, 2×4, 1×6) at the top.

Wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Sharma’s unbeaten 34 (15b, 1×4, 4×6) was not enough as the Falcons finished 19 runs short of the target at 171 for seven in 20 overs.

For the Aces, Harshith Sai (two for 31), Vidyananda Reddy (two for seven) and Wafi Kachchhi (two for 15) struck at regular intervals to ensure that the Falcons were never really in the hunt.

The scores: Anvita Khammam Aces 190/5 in 20 overs (K Himateja 103 n.o., Prateek Reddy 32, T Ravi Teja 2/48) bt Medak Falcons 171/7 in 20 overs (Naman Agarwal 32, Shrunjith Reddy 60, Ishan Sharma 34 n.o., Harshith Sai 2/31, Vidyananda Reddy 2/7, Wafi Kachchhi 2/15).