PANAJI: Prescon Panthers beat Manas Manas Mavericks by three wickets in the last league match of the 1st Panjim Gymkhana Members League (PGML) at PG ground, Campal here on Saturday evening. Earlier, LPK 11 booked their place in the knock-out stage of the PGML T20 fun cricket tournament after a comfortable six-wicket win against leaders Dempo Challengers.
With this victory, Prescon qualified for the knockout stage in the second position in the standings with six points, but lesser run rate than Dempo Challengers. Both these teams will play the Qualifier 1 on Sunday morning. Manas Mavericks lost their third match of the PGML and thus finished at the bottom of the table with just one victory to their name. Due to a better run-rate, Baale Tigers, who also have two points from four matches, made it to the Eliminator against LPK11; while Manas Mavericks are out of the competition.
The final league match proved to be the most exciting contest of the PGML with Prescon Panthers captain Vivek Karapurkar turning on the style with a timely knock of 36 runs off 12 balls studded with four sixers and a boundary, to power his side to an important victory.
Chasing Manas Mavericks total of 135/8, Prescon Panthers required 50 runs off the last five overs with Karapurkar walking in at the crucial juncture. His strokeful knock ensured Prescon a thrilling win and broke Manas Mavericks hearts. Although Karapurkar, who was declared man of the match, had to leave the centrestage after crossing the 35-run mark, but the late-order duo of Rohit Salgaonkar and Neehan Khaunte made sure that they got the 7 runs required in the final over to cross the line.
Earlier, Manas Mavericks won the toss and chose to bat first. After a brilliant start with a couple of 43-run partnerships by the top-order batsmen, Manas failed to finish with a flourish and thus had to settle for a fighting score of 135/8 after scoring just twenty runs in the last five overs. Mahendra Pai Kuchelkar scored run-a-ball 32 with the help of five boundaries while Dattesh Priolkar contributed 30 runs off 23 balls. Sandeep Signapurkar 21, captain Ilyas Naroo 17 and Shailesh Miskin 10, were the other notable contributors.
Prescon Panthers staged a remarkable comeback of sorts while applying the brakes on Manas scoring following a fantastic catch of Miskin by Buddhadev Mangaldas, on the boundary rope in the 16th over. Buddhadev (3/18) then went to bowl excellently as he picked up the clueless batsmen with his well-disguised slower ones.
Subhash Haldankar was the chief guest and gave away the man of the match award to Vivek Karapurkar in the presence of Balu Phadke and other dignitaries.
In the morning session, LPK 11 scored their second win of the PGML and took their tally to 4 points to finish in third position in the table.
Chasing Dempo’s modest total of 114, LPK11 reached 116/4 in 18.2 overs. Man of the match, Sanjay Netrawalkar, who also effected three run-outs earlier, played a responsible knock of 26 runs off 30 balls at the top of the order after the early loss of captain Anup Kudchadkar. His inning comprised four hits to the fence. He combined with Devidas Kholkar (34 off 36 balls, 5×4) to raise 64 runs for the second wicket. Sachin Sardessai remained unbeaten on 23 (16balls, 2×4), Manish Kakode contributed 13 runs to the winning cause.
PGML leaders Dempo Challengers thus lost their first match at the league stage with their record reading 3 wins in four games as the group stage came to an end.
After winning their fourth consecutive toss, Dempo batted first. However, they failed to post a big total this time. Mukhtar Kadri was their only bright spot in the batting card as the dependable captain scored 40 over two outings in the innings. He struck five crisp boundaries and two sixers. Kiran Shirwaikar made 20 runs, while Sahil Adwalpalkar contributed 19.
Parind Nasnodkar was the chief guest and gave away the man of the match award to Sanjay Netrawalkar of LPK11.
Brief scores Match 1: Dempo Challengers 114 in 20 overs (Mukhtar Kadri 40, Kiran Shirwaikar 20, Sahil Adwalpalkar 19; Manish Kakode 2/13) LPK11 116/4 (Devidas Kholkar 34, Sanjay Netrawalkar 26, Sachin Sardessai 23 NO; Mukhtar Kadri 1/8).
Brief scores Match2: Manas Mavericks 135/8 in 20 overs (Mahendra Pai Kuchelkar 32, Dattesh Priolkar 30; Buddhadev Mangaldas 3/18, Prajyot Rivonkar 2/14). Prescon Panthers 139/7 (Vivek Karapurkar 36, Smit Dalvi 35; Jamir Carol 2/12, Rajaram Kundaikar 2/28)
