MARGAO: La Paz CC and Eagle SC tasted victory in their respective matches on the opening day of the 3rd edition of Chandrakant Karapurkar Trophy at SAG ground, Fatorda on Sunday. The prestigious tournament is organised by Sportsweek CC and sponsored by Chirag Naik of Commonwealth Developers.
In the inaugural match, La Paz crushed Curchorem Youth by 9 wickets. Left-arm spinner Anuj Yadav picked up a five-wicket haul including a hat-trick to set up the dominant victory for the Vasco-based club. Curchorem Youth CC were shot out for a meagre 45 runs in 13.1 overs. Sahil Neurenkar with 12 runs was their top-scorer. Anuj Yadav (5/12) and Madar Basappa (3/7) had a great time with the ball.
La Paz CC raced to 46 for 1 in 4.5 overs with Veer Yadav (24) and Sumiran Amonkar (16 not out) doing the bulk of the scoring.
Later, Eagle SC got the better of a fighting Sportsweek by 3 wickets with 4 balls to spare in a thrilling contest.
A scintillating unbeaten knock of 74 runs by Kaushal Singh, supported by Nagappa Konnur (28) and Sujay Fadte (30) propelled hosts Sportsweek to a challenging total of 165/5 in 20 overs. Diptesh Haldankar (2/32) was the most successful bowler for Eagle.
In their run-chase, Eagle found themselves in trouble at 111 for 5 in 14 overs with Sportsweek on top of the game. However, Parag Sakhalkar (37) and Rohan Naik (35) launched a stunning counter-attack to change the complexion of the game in 19 balls with some lusty hits. Deepak Kumar (2/17) tasted success with the ball, but could not prevent Eagle from prevailing over Sportsweek.
The quarter-finals and ensuing matches shall be played under floodlights at Dr Rajendra Prasad Stadium (MCC), making it the first All-Goa inter-club tournament to do so.
MCC are the current holders of the Chandrakant Karapurkar Trophy, while Chowgule Sports Club were the runners-up in the previous edition.
