PANAJI: Geno Sports Club beat Dempo Cricket Club by 11 runs to stay alive in the Bandodkar League T20 cricket tournament organised by Panjim Gymkhana, here on Tuesday.
It was a must-win match for Geno, who had gone down to Salgaocar Cricket Club yesterday. And the Geno boys responded in a fantastic fashion as they snatched the victory from such a position where Dempo had looked in total control of the low-scoring encounter around the half-way mark of the chase.
Earlier, being put into bat; Geno posted a total of 138/8 in their alloted 20 overs. Aryan Narvekar was the top-scorer with 57 runs off 43 balls. His knock included four boundaries and three sixers. He combined with Gaurish Kambli (18) to put a 36-run stand for the second wicket and followed it up with a partnership of 39 runs with Deepak Khatri (15) for the third wicket. Dempo’s left-arm spinner Azim Kazi was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/22 to his name. Left-arm pacer Divyang Hinganekar (2/18) and Malik Sirur (2/25) also bowled well, while Geno lower-middle order collapsed without putting up a fight.
In reply, Dempo were off to a decent start; and although they lost opener Manish Kakode early, captain Snehal Kauthankar and Jai Ahuja combined to put up a solid partnership for the second wicket. At one point, these two appeared set to take the game away from Geno. However, a great piece of fielding and direct hit by Pradnesh Gaokar saw Kauthankar (31) being run out. It proved to be the turning point of the match as the flourishing second wicket stand came to an end on 52 when the team total was 64 with 9 overs bowled.
An inspired fielding effort by Geno from there and Amulya Pandrekar in particular, completely turned the tide in their favour with Dempo losing wickets in a heap as eight wickets went down in the span of 63 runs. Jai Ahuja with 37, was the top scorer for Dempo, who were all out for 127 in 19.3 overs. Vikas Singh contributed 19 runs.
Ruthvik Naik put in a brilliant performance picking up 3 wickets for 20 runs. Mohit Redkar (2/14) and Deepak Khatri (2/27) also bowled well in what proved to be a total team effort for Geno. Aryan Narvekar was named man of the match and the award was presented by Panjim Gymkhana managing committee member Sarfaraz Sheikh.
The second match of the day, that between Chowgule Sports Club and Alcon MCC was abandoned due to bad weather conditions. It will be replayed tomorrow at 12 noon.
