PANAJI: Dempo Challengers and Prescon Panthers sealed the remaining two Playoff positions at the ongoing PGML 4.0, at Panjim Gymkhana ground here on Sunday. While Dempo progressed to the last-four stage with a comfortable 4-wicket victory over Manas Mavericks, Prescon Panthers made the Playoffs despite going down to Baale Tigers by 7 wickets today.
Dempo Challengers finished third in the points table with six points from 6 games. Their net run-rate (NRR) was superior to Prescon Panthers, who also ended up with 6 points from 6 matches to finish fourth. Desserts N’More Avengers, also with 6 points, finished fifth due to an inferior NRR.
Baale Tigers rounded off the league engagements with second successive victory and with 4 points from 6 matches, they finished 6th in the 7-team PGML. The holders Manas Mavericks endured a disastrous season where they lost five out of six matches, to occupy the bottom position.
While Prescon had almost booked their Playoff spot after their last match and only needed to avoid a humiliation that could have dropped their NRR below that of the Avengers, Dempo Challengers were in a do-or-die situation today in their last league match.
The reaction from the Men in Blue was befitting the occasion as they restricted Manas Mavericks to 120 and then overcame the top-order batting hiccups to power their way to 121/6 in 17 overs, thereby overtaking Desserts N’More Avengers with a positive NRR quotient.
Niraj Lotlekar (3/21), Balkrishna Hodarkar (2/19) and Shubham Lokre (2/06) took wickets at regular intervals as Manas Mavericks failed to generate momentum after electing to bat first. Their best period at the crease was the 57-run partnership for the third wicket between captain Ilyas Naroo (30) and Heramb Parab (30).
Dempo’s quick loss of wickets at the top meant captain Tunish Sawkar and reliable Om Fadte had to shoulder maximum responsibility in the run-chase. And the duo came out with flying colours where Tunish slammed 38 runs off 19 balls studded with 3 sixes and 3 boundaries; while Om cracked 7 boundaries on his way to 37 runs from 29 balls. With a wicket to his name as well, all-rounder Om Fadte was named ‘Grant Thornton’ Man-of-the Match.
Dempo Challengers will take on Prescon Panthers in the Eliminator on Sunday (9th February) afternoon.
Earlier today, Kapil Angle played a stellar role in guiding Baale Tigers to a commanding 7-wicket win against Prescon Panthers. Put into bat, the Panthers struggled right from the start with Iftikhar Agha providing maximum resistance with a resolute knock of 35 runs. Mrunmay Das and Amey Dongrikar took two wickets each for the Tigers.
Having played his part with the ball (1/06 off 3 overs) in restricting Prescon Panthers to a lowly 102 in 19.5 overs, ‘Grant Thornton’ Man-of-the match Kapil scripted a fluent knock of 40 runs of 37 balls, which included five boundaries and a delightful sixer, as Baale Tigers cruised to the victory target in 17.5 overs. Baale Tigers captain Shushrut Nasnodkar scored 35 runs to ensure his side finished the campaign positively despite there being no chance of progress to the knockout stage for the 4th season in a row.
Meanwhile leaders Priority Titans will clash with second-placed RC Goa in the last league-stage match on Saturday (8th February) morning before engaging in the Qualifier 1 on Sunday morning.
Brief Scores:
Prescon Panthers 102 in 19.5 overs (Iftikhar Agha 35, Vivek Karapurkar 17 not out, Aditya Angle 13; Mrunmay Das 2/16); Baale Tigers 104/3 in 17.5 overs (Kapil Angle 40, Shushrut Nasnodkar 35, Harshad Gadekar 11 not out; Aditya Angle 1/7), Baale Tigers win by 7 wickets.
Manas Mavericks 120Manas Mavericks 120 all out (Ilyas Naroo 30, Heramb Parab 30, Ajinkya Kudtarkar 17; Niraj Lotlekar 3/21); Dempo Challengers 121/6 in 17 overs (Tunish Sawkar 38, Om Fadte 37, Neel Netravalkar 13; Ilyas Naroo 1/06), Dempo Challengers win by 4 wickets.
