PANAJI: Kiran Shirwaikar’s quickfire 37 helped Dempo Challengers to post a fighting total of 131/8 against LPK11 in the second qualifier of Panjim Gymkhana Members League at PG ground, here today. Dempo had won the toss and elected to bat.
Kiran came up with a crucial knock of 37 runs in 19 deliveries, which contained one boundary and three sixers. He combined with Aryan Mashelkar (17) for a 53-run partnership for the fifth wicket, which ultimately formed the key part of the Dempo total after their inning was wrecked by Manish Kakode’s double blow in the eight over.
Manish, who went for 16 runs in his first over, returned with a vengeance and bowled opener Naishad Kamat (23) before getting Mehank Dharwadkar stumped on the next ball. Manish also effected the run out of Orange cap holder Mukhtar Kadri (1) in the same over as Dempo Challengers went from 44/0 at the start of the 8th over to 47/3 at the end of it. They reeled under the triple-wicket loss and tried to rebuild as opener Geet Sail (17) was still around. However, in the 12th over, Manish took a well-judged catch of Geet to heap more misery on Dempo. Thereafter Kiran and Aryan did a fine job of rebuilding the team innings and ensure the bowlers had something to defend.
LPK’s Manish finished with the figures of 2/34. Anish Kakode, Vallabh Haldankar and Siddharth Ghanekar picked up a wicket each. Marwin Carvalho, who opened the bowling, had the best economy, with his figures of 3-0-4-0.
