SATURDAY, JULY 27, 2024
Team Herald
PANJIM: Manas Mavericks stormed into the final of 3rd Panjim Gymkhana Members League T20 tournament with a comfortable 46-run win over Prescon Panthers in the Qualifier at Panjim Gymkhana ground, on Saturday.
The toppers of the PGML 3.0 league-stage, produced a classy performance in the Qualifier after being put into bat by Prescon Panthers, who were hampered by a foot injury while bowling to all-rounder Vivek Karapurkar.
Abhijit Bhandare, who batted brilliantly, set the Manas Mavericks on the road to put up a huge total of 194/9. The strokeful opener scored 38 runs off 17 balls, which included five boundaries and two sixers. Along with skipper Ilyas Naroo (28), the opening partnership was worth 50 runs in just 4.1 overs.
Mehank Dharwadkar, Robin D’Souza and Nityay Kuncolienkar provided the thrust later in the innings as the deep batting lineup for Manas proved its worth once again. Mehank dealt in sixers during his stunning knock of 40 runs off 16 balls, which consisted five sixers. Robin (34 off 18 balls; 2x4, 3x6) and Nityay (24) also put on 51 runs for the fourth wicket. The seventh-wicket stand between Mehank and Ajinkya Kudtarkar (11 not out) was worth 50 runs. For Prescon Panthers, Aryan Bhonsle and Amey Dongrekar picked up two wickets each.
In reply, opener Gaurav Desai staged an audacious counter-attack at the start of Prescon Panthers innings and despite losing early wickets, the Panthers brought up 50 runs in 4.1 overs. Gaurav struck six boundaries and two sixes in his knock of 37 runs from 16balls. However, the middle order batters failed to match the scoring rate with the Panthers' challenge fizzling out. Siddharth Ghanekar (38 off 21 balls) batting at No9, had too much to do and too late at that but his powerhitting ensured lessening of the margin of defeat in the end. Injured Vivek Karapurkar did not come out to bat due to his foot injury and Prescon Panthers were contained at 148/9. Manas Mavericks captain Ilyas Naroo took two wickets while Ajinkya, Robin and Rohit Rane picked up a wicket apiece.
Abhijit Bhandare was named the Man of the match and chief guest Aditya Tarcar presented the award.
Defending champions Dempo Challengers will take on Desserts N’More Avengers in the first Eliminator on Sunday at 10 am.
Prescon Panthers will have another opportunity to make it to the final when they play the second Eliminator match on February 17.
