Herald Group ‘Super’ shine

PANJIM: It came down to the super over, but most importantly it was a superb team performance which led Herald Group thump Goa Doot in the second semi-final of late Vijay Gad inter-media cricket tournament, organized by Sports Journalists Association of Goa (SJAG), at SAG ground, Campal, on Friday.­
Herald Group made it to the second consecutive final and after finishing runner-up in the previous edition, they will go all guns blazing against Tarun Bharat in the final, on Saturday, at 9 a.m.
Herald Group won the toss and skipper Sarvesh Veluskar opted to field first.
After making it to this stage in impressive fashion, Goa Doot were restricted to 84/6 in the allotted 10 overs. Vipul Pawar (18), Santosh Kubal (16) and Aashish Amonkar (13 not out) contributed vital runs. Flavio Lopes picked up two crucial wickets in the initial stages, giving away only five runs. Amit Tailor (1-19), Sarvesh Veluskar (1-14) also supported well.
In reply, Herald Group were tied on 84/4 in 10 overs.
Seasoned openers, Shailesh Zantye and Sarvesh couldn’t carry on their good form and departed early.
Ganapat Paradkar (19) was the next to return to the pavilion. However, Anant Bakhale kept his composure with an excellent 34 not out. He was well supported by man-of-the-match Flavio Lopes’ quick 19 not out as the duo tied the scores.
In the crucial super over bowled by Flavio, Goa Doot scored 10/1. But Herald responded gallantly with Ganpat hitting a delightful six on the very first ball while Sarvesh hit a boundary on the fifth ball with a run scored through a leg by.
In the first semi-final, Tarun Bharat registered a comfortable nine wicket victory over Gomantak.
In the morning quarter-final match, Herald Group had defeated Prudent Media by nine wickets.
Brief scores: Gomantak 72 for 4 in 10 overs (Vilas Mahadik 14, Harshad Sawant 13, Baburao Revankar 16. Shailesh Barve 1-3, Mahendra Narvekar 1-12) lost to Tarun Bharat: 73 for 1 in 9.1 overs (Shailesh Barve 34 not out, Anil Bandivadekar 23, Vilas Mahadik 1-19). Man-of-the-match Shailesh Barve (Tarun Bharat).
Prudent Media 56 for 9 in 10 overs (Sachin Surlikar 10.  Amit Tailor 2-6, Ganapat Paradkar 1-11, Sarvesh Veluskar 2-10, Prashant Sawant 1-2) lost to Herald  Group 59 for 1 in 7.1 overs (Sarvesh Veluskar 25 not out, Shailesh Zantye 24 not out. Nawaz Sheikh 1-10). Man-of-the-match Sarvesh.