Porvorim: Goa Cricket Association’s ‘A Division’ state final turned out to be a very low-scoring affair with La Paz Gardens Cricket Club scoring a four-wicket victory over Khorlim XI at GCA academy ground here on Friday.
It was supposed to be a match of 40 overs each but batting first, Khorlim XI were bowled out for 73 runs in 25 overs as Subodh Bhatti (4/18) ran riot picking up the wickets of opener Ninad Pawaskar (1), No. 3 Atul Yadav (8), Jai Ahuja (2) and Shubham Jha (9). In a disastrous batting show, none of the top and middle-order batters entered double figures and it was No 9 batter Rahul Keni, who top-scored with 17 runs.
The other bowlers to taste success with the ball for La Paz were Ajinkya Kudtarkar, Mithil Karekar and captain Srinivas Fadte, who all took two wickets each.
In reply, La Paz were also scripting a similar tale with the bat and slid to a precarious 34/6 in 12.1 overs before captain Srinivas (21 not out off 46 balls) and Sayed Badiuzzama (27 not out off 22 balls) combined for an unfinished seventh-wicket stand of 43 runs to take their team to the title victory, as La Paz Gardens CC reached 77/6 in 21 overs.
Manas Raikar picked up 3/29 while Bhushan Talawadekar took 2/24 for Khorlim XI.
