Manas Mavericks scored their third victory in a row to emerge the leaders in the ongoing 3rd edition of Panjim Gymkhana Members League T20 Tournament at PG ground here on Sunday. The day also saw Prescon Panthers open their account in the league stage.
Posting the highest total of the PGML with 188/7 on the board, Prescon Panthers contained Baale Tigers within157/8 to register a handsome 31-run victory. All-rounder Siddharth Ghanekar was named Man of the match for his brilliant 34 run-knock and an impressive four-wicket haul (4/13) bowling with searing pace. Manoj Patil was the chief guest for the presentation of man of the match award and a special prize of Rs 10,000 for grabbing four wickets.
In the second match of the day, Manas Mavericks scored an emphatic 7-wicket victory over RC Goa. Batting first on winning the toss, RC Goa suffered a top-order batting failure and could not recover enough to post a fighting total as they were bowled out for a modest 110 in 18.2 overs. Dattesh Priolkar (22) and Swayam Naik (20), Suraj Poojari (19) got off to decent starts but failed to make them count.
On the other hand, Manas Mavericks bowlers made a great impact as they struck regularly despite the pitch being a beauty to bat on. Mehank Dharwadkar, Ajinkya Kudtarkar and Mukhtar Amlani took two wickets each.
With high-quality batters in their ranks, the Mavericks cruised past the target to 115/3 in 14 overs. Captain Ilyas Naroo guided his side home with a watchful 35-run knock. He was named man of the match. Ajit Singbal was the chief guest for the presentation of man of the match award.
Nityay Kunkolikar also contributed 35 runs with his second-wicket partnership with skipper Ilyas being worth 76 runs, ensuring that the red-hot form is converted into another victory.
Earlier, Baale Tigers won the toss and elected to field. Prescon Panthers, who had lost the low-scoring opener to Dempo Challengers by 1 run, fired on all cylinders from the start today. Prajyot Rivonker smacked the Baale bowlers all around the park on his way to making 40 runs off 24 balls. He hit four mighty sixers and one boundary. Opener Gaurav Desai with 38, Vivek Karapurkar contributing 27 runs and then it was Siddharth providing the final flourish with 34 runs of 17 balls (2×4, 2×6).
Baale Tigers got off to a decent start to the chase of the huge total with Sachin Sardessai playing beautifully. He stroked the ball crisply and also went big on occasions. However, after his 40-run knock off 19 balls where Sachin cracked four boundaries and three sixers, Baale Tigers failed to sustain the charge. Despite valiant effort by the consistent Kapil Angle (36) and captain Shushrut Nasnodkar (25), Baale Tigers went on to suffer their third successive loss in the PGML 3.0.
