In the match 17th of the GMR Andhra Premier League (APL) 2025, which was a five overs-a-side contest due to weather at the ACA VDCA International Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, Kakinada Kings defeated Royals of Rayalaseema by one run in a last over thriller on DLS method. Lekhaz Reddy was given the player of the match award for his blistering 33 runs at an exceptional strike-rate in excess of three runs per ball, to help Kings put up a competitive total on the board before a match-winning last over under pressure from S Kamaruddin.
Earlier, Shaik Rasheed, the captain of Royals of Rayalaseema, won the toss and decided to field first against Kakinada Kings captain KS Bharat after the start of the match 17th of GMR APL 2025 was delayed by nearly three hours due to rain and wet outfield. In the first over itself, Kings lost the key wicket of KS Bharat, who didn’t trouble the scorers after facing just two balls from P Girinath Reddy before his opening partner KP Rahul got dismissed on the bowling of J Saketh Ram for just a run.
Kakinada Kings found themselves in some trouble at 10/3 by the end of the second over, losing their third wicket as A Surya was sent back to the pavilion by Saketh Ram. In the third over, P Tapaswi took the attack to Girinath Reddy, reaching 19 off just 8 with three fours and one six before the bowler had the last laugh, picking up his wicket to reduce Kings to 25/4 towards the end of the third over with Royals of Rayalaseema in the ascendency.
The next two overs saw Kakinada Kings make a stellar comeback into the contest with Lekhaz Reddy (33* off 9), smashing a four and four sixes while his partner at the other end, Ravikiran got unbeaten 10 off 5, to help the team post 69/4 total in five overs. For Royals, P Girinath Reddy, who took two wickets in his two overs, also ended up conceding 22 runs, while for J Saketh Ram, the figures read 2/29 in his two-over spell.
In pursuit of the 70-run target on DLS method, Royals of Rayalaseema captain Shaik Rasheed got off to an absolute flyer, starting the innings with a six before hitting two fours. He lost his wicket on the fourth ball on the bowling of K Sudharshan, and then, in the next over, S Dhruva Kumar took the mantle to attack the bowlers, but at the other end, his partner Pyla Avinash was dismissed for a duck by M Anjaneyulu.
Harsha Vardhan Maddila started his innings by hitting three sixes on first three balls, to put Royals in great position to get over the line before his dismissal on the fourth ball off the bowling of Sudharshan. At this stage of the innings, Royals of Rayalaseema had reached 49/3 in three overs, needing just 21 runs in 12 balls but S Dhruva Kumar couldn’t take them over the finishing line despite his unbeaten 32 off 16, which included three fours and two six due to S Kamaruddin bowling an exceptional last over, to defend eight runs successfully.
With this vital win, Kakinada Kings jumped to fifth place in the GMR APL 2025 points table with four points to their name in five matches including two wins while Royals of Rayalaseema now find themselves at the foot of the table with just three points in the same number of matches. In their next match, Kings will play against Bhimavaram Bulls on Tuesday, August 19, and for Rayalaseema, their next opponent is Capital Amaravathi Royals on Monday, August 18.