Panaji: Desserts N’More Avengers and Baale Tigers scripted clinical victories in their respective matches of the 3rd Panjim Gymkhana Members League at Panjim Gymkhana ground here on Saturday.
Desserts N’More outplayed defending champions Dempo Challengers by 59 runs in the first match before Baale Tigers opened their account in the PGML3.0 with a strong display against Manas Mavericks, who went down by 12 runs.
Having lost their last outing, Desserts N’More Avengers registered their second victory in three matches as they bounced back in style today. Put into bat, the Avengers posted a big total of 171/6 riding on a confident batting performance spearheaded by stroke-maker Saif Ali Karajgi, who smashed 35 runs off 20 balls (5×4, 1×6). Skipper Sameer Chodankar played beautifully for his 35 off 25 balls. Rajaram Kundaikar came up with the acceleration in the end with 22 runs off 12 balls.
In reply, Dempo Challengers suffered a complete batting failure and couldn’t get a foothold to make the chase a competitive affair before being restricted to 112/9 and tasting first defeat. The only batters to offer some resistance were Sumiran Mehta (38 off 30 balls) and Sazu Naik (25 off 12 balls). For the Avengers, Balakrishna Hodarkar and Vinay Palekar took two wickets each, while Saif Ali Karajgi picked one wicket.
Parag Sardesai was the chief guest and presented the man of the match award to Saif Ali Karajgi of Desserts N’More Avengers.
In the second match of the day, Baale Tigers produced their best effort of the season and scored the crucial victory to stay alive in the competition having lost all their previous three games.
Electing to bat first, skipper Shushrut Nasnodkar (36) and Sachin Sardessai (17) in particular, gave a quickfire start to Baale Tigers. Shushrut, who scored 5 boundaries including a delightful scoop shot, dished out a superb mixture of caution and aggression and was involved in a couple of important partnerships. Smit Dalvi (22) and Anish Kakode (18) contributed handy runs as Baale Tigers posted a total 161/9. Manas Mavericks’ Rohit Rane picked up 3 wickets while Ajinkya Kudtarkar took two wickets.
Manas Mavericks with a superb range of attacking batters in their ranks, lost wickets at regular intervals and failed to build a momentum despite Mehank Dharwadkar’s exciting knock of 40 runs (27 balls; 2×4, 2×6). Govind Gawas remained not out on 23 off 15 balls as the victory target grew beyond his reach and league leaders Manas Mavericks in reply managed 149/7 to suffer their first loss in four games. For the Tigers, Harshal Shah took two wickets.
Smit Dalvi also came good with the ball as he took 1/14 from his economical three overs, and was named man of the match. Parind Nachinolcar was the chief guest for the presentation ceremony.
Baale Tigers duo of Kapil Angle, who scored 15 runs today, and Harshal Shah also became the first recipients of Orange and Purple caps respectively for being the current leading run-getter and wicket-taker of the PGML 3.0.
