PANAJI: Khorlim XI defeated Maratha Warriors by six wickets in the final to win the prestigious Bandodkar Trophy Cricket Tournament organised by Panjim Gymkhana at Bandodkar ground, Campal. The winners were presented with Rs 50,000 along with the trophy while the runners-up received Rs 25,000.
Replying to Maratha Warriors’ 127 all out in 31.3 overs, Khorlim XI got to 129/4 in 28.3 overs in an emphatic manner on Thursday. All-rounder Amit Yadav was named the man-of-the match for his 3/31 with the ball and 49 runs with the bat.
Earlier, Maratha Warriors won the toss and elected to bat. Apart from Abhishek Singh (40) and Vaishnav Pednekar (34), no batsman could make a notable contribution befitting the occasion of the one-dayers tournament finale -the main reason for their debacle being a fine bowling performance by Khorlim XI.
Along with off-spinner Amit, leg-spinner Yogesh Kavthankar, who took three wickets for 27 runs, Narsimha Reddy (2/20) and Achit Shigwan (1/32) also bowled well.
Khorlim XI, skippered by Saheel Dhuri, completed their dominating display by cruising to victory with six wickets in hand and plenty of overs to spare. Amit ensured his performance at the big stage, was substantial although he missed the half-century by a run. Soham Panvelkar and Achit scored 23 runs each while Rahul Keni was unbeaten on 11.
“I always feel better to perform in such a big game..and I am looking forward to perform wherever I get a chance to play,” said the 31-year-old hard-hitting batsman, who has played 37 Ranji Trophy matches for Goa – the last being in 2017 -, scoring almost a thousand runs and taking 123 wickets.
Maratha Warriors bowlers Abhishek Singh, Hemant Khot, Sandeep Navik and Abdol Salam shared the wickets to fall.
Soham Panvelkar was adjudged the man-of-the series, Vaishnav Pednekar bagged ‘best batsman’ award while the ‘best bowler’ prize went to Sherbahadur Yadav (Panjim Gymkhana ‘A’).
WE WANT TO DO WELL IN PARRIKAR TROPHY TOO: SAHEEL DHURI
Captain Saheel Dhuri was delighted with the triumphant effort of his boys in what is regarded as a ‘prestigious tournament to play in’ given the rich history of Bandodkar Trophy dedicated to the memory of the first Chief Minister of Goa, late Bhausaheb Bandodkar, who was a huge fan of cricket.
“Prestigious word itself says, how special it is! It has been a total team effort and dedicated to all the team players on and off the field; alongwith the team management. It’s a delightful moment for all the Khorlim people and we are looking forward to doing well in the ongoing 1st Manohar Parrikar Trophy T20s where we are in the semis; too,” Dhuri told www.livenewsgoa.com.
