PORVORIM: The inaugural edition of Manohar Parrikar T20 Cricket Tournament commenced on a rousing note with Ram 11, Mapusa, scoring a fighting six-run victory over Young Stars of Moula at Goa Cricket Association academy ground, here today. The tournament has been organised by Yuva de Goa in association with Pilerne Cricket Club.
Man-of-the match Mukul Kasana produced a superb inning of 91 runs to give Ram 11 a strong footing in the knock-out competition and then contributed in the field by effecting two run-outs and taking a catch, at crucial junctures as Young Stars of Moula put up a spirited chase.
Put into bat, Kasana’s 63-ball 91 studded with seven boundaries and three sixers; helped Ram 11 to a challenging total of 166/4 in their allotted 20 overs.
Kasana paced his innings superbly and played shots all around the park, providing good entertainment to the viewers, who logged on to watch the live stream on YouTube. The other notable contributions with the bat came from Yogesh Kauthankar (22 not out), Sanath Nevgi (17), Omkar Bhandari (13) and Faiz Sulaiman (10).
For Young Stars of Moula, Lakmesh Pawane picked up two wickets. Pranal Sawant and Bhushan Sahastrabuddhe took a wicket each.
In reply, Young Stars of Moula kept themselves in the contest with steady flow of aggression. Sahastrabuddhe played impressively for his 32-ball 46. He displayed great skills on the way to striking eight fours. Sujay Naik with 26 runs, Rajesh Tukadia scoring 25 off 15 balls including four boundaries and Lakmesh’s 21 coming off 14 balls, kept Moula in the hunt. However, they eventually fell short by 6 runs to crash out at the first hurdle. For Ram11, Yogesh Kauthankar, Mohammad Ali and Omprakash Chauhan picked up a wicket each.
Ram 11 thus became the second team to enter the quarter-finals. Earlier in the day, Goa Police earned a walkover that put them into the last-eight stage.
