In the Qualifier 1 of the GMR Andhra Premier League (APL) 2025, played at the ACA-VDCA International Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam, Capital Amaravathi Royals put up a dominating show against Tungabhadra Warriors to bag a comprehensive-eight wicket victory. Hanuma Vihari won the player of the match award for his stunning all-round performance and captaining the team through to the final in two days time.
At the toss, Amaravathi captain Hanuma Vihari emerged victorious against his counterpart K Maheep Kumar and elected to bowl first. Left-arm spinner G Mallikarjuna delivered the first breakthrough to his side as he got rid of DB Prashanth in the fifth over. After 22 deliveries, CR Gnaneshwar also followed Prashanth to the dugout after falling against BS Vinay Kumar after scoring only 21 off 19.
In the crunch situation, Saurabh Kumar, MK Datta Reddy, Gutta Rohit, and Kancheral Anand Josiah failed to hold their nerves and went back to the pavilion with their single-digit scores, which meant that Tungabhadra were in serious trouble at one stage at 60/6. Following that, Maheep and KV Sasikanth endeavoured to stabilise the team’s innings and produced crucial knocks of 56 and 41 respectively.
Maheep lost his battle against Bandaru Ayyappa in the penultimate over of the innings. On the final delivery of the innings, Sasikanth got run out while stealing a run. Eventually, Warriors posted a total of 136/8 in their 20 overs. For Royals, skipper Vihari emerged as the most effective bowler as he picked up 3/19 figures in his four overs.
Chasing the 137-run total, Amaravathi looked relentless as their captain Vihari displayed his ruthless side as a batter. He and Manyala Pranith added 51 runs together for the opening wicket in just 30 balls. Pranith lost his wicket against Cheepurapalli Stephen while playing attacking cricket.
SV Rahul went into the middle and hammered the bowlers mercilessly. He chipped in with a brisk 44 off 30. His innings was studded with five fours and two sixes. Chennu Siddhardha cleaned up Rahul and ended his valiant knock. In the 14th over, Vihari took A Ardrit Reddy to the cleaners and the former completed his fifty in 33 deliveries.
Vihari stayed in the middle and took his team home comfortably with 34 balls left in the contest. Amaravathi’s captain walked back with his unbeaten 54 off 34. SDNV Prasad also made the contribution of six runs after playing four balls. Stephen and Siddhardha got one wicket each from Tungabhadra.
With this emphatic win, Capital Amaravathi Royals have qualified for the final of the GMR APL 2025 while Tungabhadra Warriors will next take on Bhimavaram Bulls in the Qualifier 2, to be held on Friday, August 22. In the league round, Warriors beat Bulls by 13 runs in a rain-curtailed contest, and they will look to be dominating again in the upcoming marquee game to meet Amaravathi again in the final to be played on Saturday.