PANJIM: Mapusa Dream Crushers (MDC) defeated Delite Titans by one wicket on the opening day of Desserts n More +45 Veterans Sarsangan Series Cricket match played at Arlem cricket ground.
Electing to bat, Delite Titans put up an imposing 175/9 in their allotted 20 overs. Sanjay Netravalkar scored 46 (42 balls, 6 x 4s), Avinash Kossambe 37 (27 balls, 4 x 4s), Vishnu Naik Namshikar 31 (19 balls, 3 x 4s) and Mahendra Khandeparkar 11 (7 balls, 2 x 4s). MDC were quite generous in their bowling conceding 28 wides in a total of 33 extras.
The highlight of the Titans innings was an 88-run partnership of just 57 balls stitched between Sanjay Netravalkar and Avinash Kossambe for the second wicket which laid the foundation for the Delite Titans total. For MDC, the successful bowlers were Dr Sagar Salgaocar 2-26, Mahesh Churi 2-33, Mahesh Bambolkar 1-11, Mahesh Kudchadkar 1-15 and Rajesh Colvalcar 1-32.
In reply, Mapusa Dream Crushers were off to a disastrous start losing both the openers to the swing of Pradip Shetye with the score at 13. However, DySP (South) Rajendra Prabhudesai 50* (37 balls, 8 x 4s) in the company of the old warhorse Sudin Kamat 28 (24 balls, 4 x 4s) and later with Anant Chodnekar 15 (11 balls, 1 x 6s) led the fightback for MDC stitching important partnerships. At 77-5 (11.2 overs) and then at 114-7 (14.4 overs), the Sarsangan predictor was tilted in favour of a Delite Titans win.
The same was however proved wrong thanks to a late burst by the lower order comprising of the MDC skipper Rajesh Colvalcar 15 (11 balls, 1 x 4s), Abhay Karande 23 (14 balls, 3 x 4s), Mahesh Churi 11* (5 balls, 2 x 4s) and Shailesh
Mahajan 9* (3 balls, 2 x 4s), with some lusty blows and terrific running in between the wickets, aided by some sloppy fielding and lacklustre bowling by the Titans, helping MDC reach 177/9 in 19.5 overs and edge past the Titans by 1 wicket and 1 ball to spare.
For Titans, the successful bowlers were Pradip Shetye, the skipper with terrific figures of 3-1-15-2 and supported by Sandesh Bambolkar 2-31, Samruddh Desai 1-31. Rajendra Prabhudesai for his brilliant innings and Mahesh Churi for his all-round show were jointly awarded the Desserts n More man-of the-match medal for helping the Mapusa Dream Crushers win the match from an improbable situation.
