Defending champions Dempo Challengers scored a thrilling one-run victory over Prescon Panthers, while RC Goa scripted a comfortable 20-run win against last season’s runners-up Priority Titans on the opening day of the third edition of Panjim Gymkhana Members League (PGML3.0) at Panjim Gymkhana ground, Campal on Saturday.
Put into bat Dempo Challengers posted a total of 136/8 with Vijay Nagarajan being the chief run-getter. The captain and towering opener hammered 40 runs of 13 balls with the help of five sixers and two boundaries. Shubham Lokre stroked a valuable 31 runs, coming down the order after the Dempo inning was rocked by loss of wickets in a heap. His 23-ball inning consisted two boundaries and a sixer.
Dempo all-rounder Dhilan Shah made a huge impact on the match with a contribution of run-a-ball 23 runs with the bat as it enabled crucial partnerships in a low-scoring affair and a return of 2/16 with the ball; thus adjudged to be the man of the match. Yogish Dempo was the chief guest for the presentation ceremony.
Prescon Panthers seemed to have the situation well under control with a great start they got as Prashant Pangam (33) and Gourav Desai (27) batted sensibly. It was Dhilan who made the crucial double breakthrough in the 12th over to bring Dempo back into the contest. Prescon weathered the storm and looked to be back on track with a 50 runs partnership as Prajyot Rivonker scored 38 runs and was involved in that fantastic sixth-wicket stand with Vardhan Haldankar.
With six runs needed in the final over being bowled by Dinesh Amrute (2/17), Prescon surprisingly found it difficult to get the required runs under pressure. And when Dinesh castled the set batter Vardhan (22), Prescon were left with the task of scoring 3 runs of the last ball; which could not materialise and they were restricted to 135/8.
In the second match of the day, RC Goa won the toss and batted first with a confident display to post a challenging total of 171/6. Captain Harshad Gadekar cruised to 36 runs of 17 balls with his knock consisting six boundaries. Devidas Kholkar (26), Swayam Naik (25) and Dattesh Priolkar (17) contributed handy runs.
In reply, Priority Titans failed to lay a foundation and a 60 runs stand for the 4th wicket between Vedant (40) and Om Fadte (34), barely managed to keep their team in the contest. However, Priority were up against a rising asking rate and even a quickfire 30 of 17 balls from Nilesh Naik was not enough for them. In the end, Priority Titans were restricted to 151/8. Kushnab Ghai produced superb figures of 2/9 off 3 overs to sparkle in the RC Goa bowling department alongside former Ranji Trophy star Harshad Gadekar (1/15), who was named man of the match. Mahesh Naik was the chief guest and gave away the prize.
Earlier, the Secretary of Goa Cricket Association, Rohan Gauns Dessai inaugurated the third edition of PGML in the presence of Panjim Gymkhana office-bearers and Team owners among others.
The matches on Sunday will see Baale Tigers take on Desserts N’More Avengers in the morning before Manas Mavericks clash with Priority Titans in the post-lunch session.
