Al Fatah first to enter semis

Al Fatah first to enter semis       
BY SUDHIN KAMAT
When spectators entered the ground today morning, little did they imagine that they would witness two contrast matches. The morning match which was played between Mechvac and Sarvodaya was a literally one sided affair.
Batting first Mechvac scored 72 runs, the lowest in the GPL2. Kiran Powar the one time Goa Ranji player scored 26 but without the help of other batsman did not last longer and succumbed to the pressure.
Sarvodaya scored the winning target in their 16th over with the loss of only three wickets thus making it on to the points table. It was their first victory. Rajshekhar Harikant with 20 and Hemant Shetgaokar with 26 achieved the target comfortably for Sarvodaya.
In the second match between GSA and Al Fatah little did the crowd realise that they were in for a treat. After losing the toss and seeing Al Fatah bat, GSA bowlers gave away runs to every corner of the ground. Sahil Dhuri promoted to open the batting alongwith Sachin Sardessai to put on 50 on the scoreboard in 5 overs. Then the runs came at regular intervals.
After the departure of Sachin for 14 runs, Sahil Dhuri and Sahid Sheikh batted brilliantly and amassed 160 runs which was the highest total on academy ground. Sahil scored 35 and Sahid Sheikh scored 42.
GSA lost opener Sagun, Tushar and Damodar Lotlikar early on score of just 30, but the pair of Reagan Pinto and Ryan D’Souza had a fantastic partnership which added almost 77 runs. The last five overs saw 54 runs being added but GSA couldn’t capitalise on the situation and they fell short by 8 runs, thus letting the crowd witness one of the best chase in Goan cricketing T20 history.
GSA fell short by eight runs. GSA were seven out at the end of 20 overs. Reagan scored 66 and Ryan scored 44. Sahil took three wickets and Srinivas Phadte, who bowled the last over for Al Fatah took two wickets for just three runs. In the end, Al-Fatah may have won the match but GSA won the hearts for sure. According to one spectator it was a ‘paisa wasool’ match. Now, GSA take on Mechvac in their last league match tomorrow. A must win match for GSA.