In the fifth match of the GMR Andhra Premier League (APL) 2025, Bhimavaram Bulls defeated Royals of Rayalaseema by a convincing margin of six wickets with 25 balls to spare at the ACA VDCA International Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam. Bhimavaram Bulls registered their first win of the season in their first outing on the back of an exceptional bowling performance from Satyanarayana Raju, to help reduce Royals of Rayalaseema to a below par total, followed by a blistering fifty from the captain Maramreddy Hemanth Reddy in the run chase, for which he was given the player of the match (POTM) award.
Earlier, Bhimavaram Bulls captain Maramreddy Hemanth Reddy won the toss and elected to bowl first in the fifth match of the GMR APL 2025. Batting first, Royals of Rayalaseema lost their first wicket at the score of 21 runs in 2.2 overs. Maddila Harsha Vardhan got out after run-a-ball six as Harishankar Reddy struck first for Bhimavaram Bulls. After that, Royals captain Shaik Rasheed took the innings further along with Dhruva Kumar Reddy as the duo added 65 runs before the fall of the second wicket.
Dhruva Kumar Reddy got out after scoring 26 runs off 24 balls, hitting three sixes as Bhupathiraju Munish Varma gave Bhimavaram Bulls second breakthrough at the score of 86 runs in 9.5 overs. Shaik Rasheed went on to complete his half-century in 28 balls, and he got out after playing a captain’s knock of 56 runs off 33 balls with the help of nine fours. Bhupathiraju took a second wicket of the match, dismissing Rasheed to leave Royals 95 runs in 11.2 overs with three batters back in the pavilion.
After that, Pyla Avinash and M Vasu Deva Raju put up a small partnership of 27 runs before Bhimavaram Bulls captain Maramreddy Hemanth Reddy struck to end Avinash’s (12 off 14) innings on the fifth ball of the 16th over. On the very next delivery, Maramreddy went on to take second consecutive wicket as Girinath Reddy went for a golden duck. The third ball of the 17th over saw Jagarlapudi Ram also get out on his first ball as Harishankar Reddy took his second scalp, reducing Royals to 125/6.
The wickets continued to fall as M Vasu Deva Raju was dismissed on the bowling of Satyanarayana Raju on the first ball of the 18th over after scoring 19 runs off 23 balls with two fours. On the last ball of the over, Raju struck again as Vinukonda Venu got out after a run-a-ball four. Gundluri Reddy (3) also lost his wicket to a run out as Royals of Rayalaseema were nine down for 137 runs in 18.3 overs. After that, Satyanarayana Raju dismissed Siraparapu Ashish (3) to take his third as Royals were bowled out for 139 runs in 19.2 overs. For Bhimavaram Bulls, Satyanarayana Raju registered figures of 3/26 in 3.2 overs, while skipper Maramreddy Hemanth Reddy, Harishankar Reddy, and Bhupathiraju Munish Varma scalped two wickets each.
In pursuit of the 140-run target, Bhimavaram Bulls didn’t have the best of starts as they lost their openers within the first four overs of their innings. Wicketkeeper batter Revanth Reddy scored a breezy 17 off 7 with two fours and one six before losing his wicket to Girinath Reddy, and in the next over, Thota Saran for just 4 off 10 to Siraparapu Ashish, which reduced Bulls to 28/2 in 3.4 overs.
What followed was a match-defining partnership of 83 runs for the third wicket between captain Maramreddy Hemanth Reddy and Thanneru Vamsi Krishna, with the former taking the attacking approach, while the latter gave him the strike at regular intervals. Maramreddy scored 65 off 40 with three fours and six sixes before Vinukonda Venu got him caught by his opposing counterpart Shaik Rasheed, with Bhimavaram Bulls score reading 111/3 in 13.1 overs before Krishna (27 off 29) and Allareddi Teja Reddy (23* off 12) took them over the finishing line with more than four overs to spare.
With this emphatic victory, Bhimavram Bulls are on the board in the GMR APL 2025, and in their next match, Bhimavaram Bulls will take on Capital Amaravathi Royals on August 12. Meanwhile, just a day after, Royals of Rayalaseema are going to battle against Tungabhadra Warriors at the ACA VDCA International Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam.