PANAJI: Tunish Sawkar’s power-hitting inspired Karimabad Sports Club to a stunning 3-wicket victory over Alcon MCC, while Salgaocar Cricket Club scored a clinical 7-wicket win against Geno Sports Club on the opening day of Bandodkar League T20 cricket tournament organised by Panjim Gymkhana here today.
Having opted to bat first, Alcon MCC posted a challenging total of 190/4 in their alloted 20 overs. The highlight of their inning was an impressive partnership of 116 runs off 57 balls for the fourth wicket between Vishamber Kahlon (66 not out off 37balls; 4×3, 6×4) and outstation player Nitish Kumar Reddy (59 off 26balls; 4×7, 6×3). Vaibhav Govekar also played a good hand, contributing 31 runs and helped in consolidating following the loss of early wicket.
In reply Karimabad, lost wickets at regular interval and it took a power-packed partnership for the fourth wicket of 96 runs off 36 balls between Tunish Sawkar and Kashyap Bakhle (54 off 33balls; 4×8, 6×1) to set the stage for the final flourish.
Tunish scored his half century in 21 balls and went on to accelerate to play the aggressor role to take the match to a thrilling finish. With 21 needed off the last over being bowled by Vijesh Prabhudesai, Tunish struck three consecutive sixers to bring down the equation to one required off the last two balls as he reached 98 runs. He struck the winning run and that meant he put the team first, remaining unbeaten on 99 off 48 balls (8×4, 8×6), as the Karimabad camp celebrated the nail-biting win by racing on to the field to hug their hero. This was an incredible finish and one of the best T20 matches witnessed in Goan cricket. Tunish was the easiest choice for the player of the match award. Panjim Gymkhana committee member Prashant Kakode presented the award.
Alcon MCC bowler Saiesh Kamat was the pick of the bowlers as he took two wickets for 18 runs, one of them being Kashyap and at a time where that wicket had resulted in application of brakes on the free-scoring Karimabad team. He also got the wicket of captain Deepraj Gaonkar, caught accrobatically by Heramb Parab on the boundary line. Heramb also took two wickets, giving away 29 runs.
Earlier, Salgaocar Cricket Club scored a comfortable 7-wicket victory over Geno Sports Club in a truncated match.
Put into bat, Geno were all out for 98 in 14.1 overs. Outstation player Deepak Khatri was the top-scorer with 35 runs of 22 balls, which included three boundaries and one sixer. Captain Samar Dubhashi contributed 25 runs and his 21-ball knock comprised four hits to the fence.
Salgaocar’s Samit Aryan Mishra was the highest wicket-taker with four scalps to his name, giving away 33 runs. Shubham Tari was impressive with his figures of 3/11.
In reply, Salgaocar raced to 99/3 in 12.5 overs with opener Ishan Gadekar guiding the team home as he remained unbeaten on 60 runs off 42 deliveries. In the company of Sagar Mishra (30 not out), Ishan put on an unbroken stand of 77 runs for the fourth wicket. His fine knock was studded with 9 boundaries and Ishan was adjudged the player of the match. Panjim Gymkhana committee member Girish Parekh presented the award.
Deepak Khatri (2/7) and Mohit Redkar (1/15) bowled well for Geno.
