PORVORIM: Mandovi Parivar Canacona prevailed over SK Jogging with a hard-fought four-wicket victory and entered the semi-finals of 1st Manohar Parrikar Trophy at GCA academy ground, here on Wednesday afternoon.
Chasing 193 for victory; Mandovi Parivar required 59 runs off the last five overs with captain Snehal Kauthankar keeping a cool head while he saw wickets fall at the other end, to guide the ‘men in yellow’ home with an unbeaten 42 off 28 balls consisting five hits to the fence. The talented Goa Ranji Trophy batsman was named man-of-the match.
Replying to SK Jogging’s challenging total of 192/4, Mandovi Parivar ended up with 195/6 in 19.4 overs in the most thrilling match of the tournament so far.
Put into bat, SK Jogging got off to a fine start with Vaibhav Naik (37) and Rajat Kudalkar (21) putting on 63 runs for the first wicket. Vaibhav, who struck four boundaries and a sixer, enjoyed a charmed life as he was dropped twice.
The highest partnership of their innings was 88 runs for the third wicket that between Samar Dubhashi (53) and Dhiraj Narvekar (58). The right-left combination worked very well for SK Jogging as they punished Mandovi bowlers, making the most of loose deliveries. Samar brought up his fifty in 28 balls hitting left-arm pacer Abhishek Singh for a superb sixer. The 25-year-old Goa wicket-keeper hit four boundaries and sixers each in an entertaining knock. Former Ranji Trophy batsman Dhiraj also delivered a classy performance as he constructed his innings elegantly, playing the big shots with ease. Six boundaries and three sixers decorated the 33-ball knock of the 43-year-old left-hander.
Mandovi Parivar’s left-arm spinner Sherbahadur Yadav took two wickets while Craig Dourado picked up one wicket.
While SK Jogging played good sensible cricket, Mandovi Parivar’s effort in the field was not up to the mark as at least three catches were put down.
Mandovi Parivar started the chase in the right manner as the opening pair of Kashyap Bakhale (39) and Avishkar Mone (35) put on 72 runs. For SK Jogging, it was captain Dhiraj with his off-breaks, providing the breakthrough with the wicket of Mone in the eighth over. Another veteran Rajendra Dabholkar then dismissed the other opener Bakhale and Mandovi’s run-rate took a beating in the process.
No 3 batsman Snehal focussed on rotating the strike while Karan Vasshodia (28 off 13 balls, 3 fours & 2 sixers) Deepraj Gaonkar (18 off 10 balls), Robin D’Souza (13 off 7 balls) perished in the pursuit of big hits.
Leg-spinner Basuraj Madar proved expensive in the 18th over of the match as he leaked 15 runs, while also picking up two wickets. With 22 needed from the last two overs, Snehal hit two consecutive boundaries off Goa Ranji Trophy pacer Harshad Gadekar, one ball being a no-ball; and 13 runs of this second-last over of the match, meant Mandovi Parivar needed nine runs to win in the final over. Left-arm pacer Abhishek Singh struck the winning shot of a boundary, on the fourth delivery of Mukhtar Kadri’s over to bring joy and relief in equal measure to the Mandovi Parivar camp.
