A splendid half-century by Anand Tendulkar was at the core of a fine team performance by Geno Sports Club as they beat Alcon MCC by 24 runs to open their campaign with a victory in the ongoing Bandodkar Premier League T20 tournament organised by Panjim Gymkhana on Wednesday. It was Alcon MCC’s second consecutive loss, thus dealing a blow to their chances of progressing to the knockout phase.
Opting to bat first, Geno Sports Club got off to a flying start with opener Anand Tendulkar blazing his way to 72 runs off 51 balls, in the team total of 188/5. In reply, Alcon MCC were all out on 164 in 19.5 overs as Geno bowlers displayed good all-round wicket-taking ability.
The highlight of the match, however, was the blistering knock of player of the match Anand, who recently paved the way for Dempo College’s triumph in the Goa University cricket final. The strokeful young batter launched two successive sixers to get going and did not look back as he went on to hit a total of five boundaries and five sixers in his entertaining stay at the crease. At the other end, the explosive Ishaan Gadekar also played his natural game to a certain extent before he departed after scoring 33 runs off 22 balls, which included three boundaries and two sixers.
The opening partnership of 78 runs off 9.4 overs set a brilliant foundation for Geno to build their skyscraper of a total. While Eknath Kerkar (21 off 17) and Gurinder Singh (21 off 15) tried to match the scoring rate, their progress was relatively slow. It required a cameo of 32 not out off 15 balls by Sanath Nevagi, who struck two sixers and three boundaries, to push Geno beyond the 180-run mark. Alcon MCC’s outstation recruit Sumit Kumar took two wickets while Deepak Punia, captain Darshan Misal and Vedant Naik claimed a wicket apiece.
In reply, Alcon MCC lost both their openers Prathamesh Gawas (15) and Digesh Raikar (10) inside five overs. Losing wickets at regular intervals fractured the momentum that was building after Deepak Punia (26) and captain Darshan (23) combined for the third wicket stand of 29 runs in 23 balls. After Darshan was caught by Ishaan off Gurinder (3/51), Alcon MCC were reduced to 86/4 in 11.1 overs. The situation went from bad to worse as Sumiran Amonkar took 12 balls for his 11 before being dismissed at the team score of 122/7 in 15.2 overs. However, Shourya Jaglan provided his team some hope with a string of big shots including two boundaries and two sixers before he perished for 26 runs off 12 balls, which eventually was not enough. Geno’s Samit Aryan Mishra, Manas and captain Harshad Gadekar took two wickets each.