Panaji: Estilo Legends staged a fantastic fightback to score a two-wicket victory over Naroo Panthers and topped the league stage of the ongoing Zooter Goa Super League at Panjim Gymkhana ground on Saturday afternoon.
Chasing Naroo Panthers’ total of 151/7, Estilo Legends looked in all sorts of trouble after being reduced to 42/5 in 10 overs but a sensational counter-charge by the likes of man of the match Shailesh Miskin, captain Saheel Dhuri and Basu Madar lower down the order propelled the Legends to the target of 152 in 17.2 overs with two wickets in hand while taking their team’s net run-rate above Naroo Panthers with both sides having won two matches each. Panthers finished second on the table.
Earlier, Naroo Panthers won the toss and elected to bat. They got off to a good start with Ilyas Naroo (37 off 30 balls; 5×4) and Vishwajeet Gaonkar (28 off 19 balls; 5×4) putting on 48 runs in the Power Play stage. The Panthers lacked aggression in the later part of their innings, but Siddhesh Alvenkar 38 off 34 balls (2×4, 1×6) played his part in taking his team to a fighting total. Captain Mukhtar Kadri scored 15 runs. Estilo Legends all-rounder Aditya Naik took two wickets while Vinay Palekar and Dattaprasad Shirodkar claimed a wicket each.
In reply, Legends struggled to start off with Paresh Miskin (12) being the only top-order batter to get to double digits before his younger brother Shailesh combined with Aditya Naik (30 off 28 balls) to launch the fightback with a stunning assault on Sapresh Mulvi, who conceded 28 runs in the 13th over. After Shailesh reached 35 off 12 balls, which included 6 boundaries and a six, in the game-turning sixth-wicket partnership of 40 runs of 16 balls; captain Saheel came to the crease and unleashed big blows all around the ground, to remain unbeaten on 32 off 12 (3×4, 2×6). Basu Madar displayed his tremendous power-hitting as he scored 24 runs off 8 balls with the help of three towering sixers and a boundary, and took his team to the top of the table and into the semi-final for the luxury of playing the bottom side.
Naroo Panthers were left to lick their wounds after having taken the initial grip on the contest but from the half-way stage of their defence, their bowlers Mulvi and Mrunmay Das came in for a lot of stick and that loosened the team’s stranglehold. Anand Majalikar was their best bowler with 2/9 off three overs.
Estilo Legends will clash with Baale Tigers in the first semi-final on Sunday morning.