Kerala batter Vishnu Vinod turned on his beast mode as he took down the Puducherry bowling line-up in their Vijay Hazare Trophy clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium A Ground, Ahmedabad, on Tuesday, January 6. Vinod slammed a masterful unbeaten 162 off 84 balls as Kerala chased down 248 against the Aman Khan-led Puducherry side.
Vinod was in insane touch and hit 13 fours and 14 sixes in a jaw-dropping knock in Ahmedabad. The right-handed batter brought up his hundred off just 63 balls and kept the scoring rate intact as he punished the bowlers further.
Vinod took only 18 balls to smash his next 50 runs as he brought up his 150 off 81 balls. His 81-ball effort is now the third fastest 150 by an Indian batter in List A cricket, behind Vaibhav Suryavanshi (59) and Dinesh Karthik (80).
Vinod completes 100 sixes in VHT
Meanwhile, the Kerala batter achieved another major milestone during his stroke-filled knock. He smashed 14 sixes in his innings and has now completed 100 sixes in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, becoming just the third player to achieve the milestone in the domestic 50-over tournament.
He joins Manish Pandey and Ruturaj Gaikwad as the third Indian to have achieved the milestone and has also surpassed Gaikwad on the tally.
Most sixes in Vijay Hazare Trophy:
1 - Manish Pandey: 108 sixes in 99 innings
2 - Vishnu Vinod: 106 sixes in 53 innings
3 - Ruturaj Gaikwad: 105 sixes in 55 innings
4 - Yusuf Pathan: 91 sixes in 56 innings
5 - Ishan Kishan: 85 sixes in 50 innings
Talking about the match, Kerala hunted down the total with pretty ease, with Vinod and Baba Aparajith leading the way. Kerala lost openers Sanju Samson and captain Rohan Kunnummal early in the first five overs of the chase; however, Vinod and Aparajith put up a stellar partnership. They put up an unbeaten stand of 222 runs for the third wicket as Kerala hunted down the total in just 29 overs, with 186 balls to go.
