Guest player Saxena's all-round effort in vain as Kerala suffer heavy loss to Andhra
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After a hat-trick of wins, Kerala suffered a 6-wicket defeat to Andhra in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
Wicketkeeper batter K S Bharat scored an unbeaten 56 off 33 as Andhra chased down a modest target of 88 runs in 13 overs.
Jalaj Saxena's all-round effort was the only silver lining in Kerala's performance. The 37-year-old guest player from Indore scored 27 off 22 and bagged three wickets.
After losing the toss, Sanju Samson-led Kerala suffered a batting collapse. Captain Sanju fell for seven, while fellow IPL player Vishnu Vinod continued his poor form in the event, getting dismissed for single digits for the sixth match in a row.
Salman Nizar (3) and Rohan S Kunnummal (9), who starred in the big win against Mumbai, also failed to impress. Pacer K V Sasikanth claimed three wickets, including that of Mohammed Azharuddeen, who fell for a golden duck, while Sachin Baby did not feature in the playing XI.
Kerala have won four and lost two in the event so far. After beating Services in the opener, Kerala lost to Maharashtra. Then they went on a beautiful run, defeating Nagaland, Mumbai and Goa.
Brief scores: Kerala 87 in 18.1 overs (Jalaj Saxena 27, K V Sasikanth 3/23, Vinay 2/17, P V S N Raju 2/19, K Sudharsan 2/18) lost to Andhra 88/4 in 13 overs (K S Bharat 56 not out, Jalaj Saxena 3/13)