PANJIM: Estilo Legends will take on Baale Tigers in the firs Zooter Goa Super League semi-finals while Retro Strikers will play Naroo Panthers in the second at Panjim Gymkhana on Sunday.
Estilo Legends staged a fantastic fightback to score a two-wicket victory over Naroo Panthers and topped the table by a narrow margin. Retro Strikers beat a severely-depleted Baale Tigers by six wickets to finish third in the table.
Naroo Panthers won the toss and elected to bat. They got off to a good start with Ilyas Naroo (37 off 30 balls; 5×4) and Vishwajeet Gaonkar (28 off 19 balls; 5×4) putting on 48 runs in the Power Play stage. The Panthers lacked aggression in the later part of their innings, but Siddhesh Alvenkar 38 off 34 balls (2×4, 1×6) played his part in taking his team to a fighting total of of 151/7.
Estilo Legends looked in all sorts of trouble after being reduced to 42/5 in 10 overs but a sensational counter-charge by the likes of man-of-the match Shailesh Miskin, captain Saheel Dhuri and Basu Madar lower down the order propelled the Legends to the target of 152 in 17.2 overs with two wickets in hand while taking their team’s net run-rate above Naroo Panthers with both sides having won two matches each. Panthers finished second on the table.
After Shailesh reached 35 off 12 balls, which included 6 boundaries and a six, in the game-turning sixth-wicket partnership of 40 runs of 16 balls; captain Saheel came to the crease and unleashed big blows all around the ground, to remain unbeaten on 32 off 12 (3×4, 2×6). Aditya Naik played responsibly for his 30 off 28 balls. Basu Madar displayed his tremendous power-hitting as he scored 24 runs off 8 balls with the help of three towering sixers and a boundary.
Naroo Panthers’ Anand Majalikar bowled superbly for 2/9 off three overs.
The second match on Saturday, was a lop-sided affair as Baale Tigers missed five of their regulars including the most expensive player of the league Sayed Badi, and failed to match Retro Strikers.
Baale Tigers posted a moderate total of 135/9 after electing to bat first. Six of their batters got into double digits with Dhilan Shah and Sahil Adwalpalkar scoring 21 runs each as the top-scores.
All-rounder Ninad Pawaskar, who had missed earlier games for Retro Strikers, first emerged as the chief wicket-taker with 3/12 before seizing the initiative with the bat for his team with 34 runs off 14 balls (5×4, 2×6) and was named the man-of-the match as Strikers romped to victory, making 136/4 in 12.2 overs. Pranav Biche dished out a fiery knock as he led the charge after Ninad was out. In his 11 balls stay at the crease, Pranav stroked five boundaries and two sixers to score 36 runs.
Baale’s Kiran Shirvoikar, Dhilan Shah and Kalpesh Salgaonkar took one wicket each.
