Team Herald
PANJIM: Manas Panjim Gymkhana will take on Salgaocar CC while Chowgule SC will meet Geno SC in the semi-finals of Bandodkar Premier League T20 tournament at Panjim Gymkhana ground on April 19.
On Thursday, Manas outplayed second-placed Geno SC by 56 runs to top Group B with two wins from two matches. Chowgule went down by 25 runs to Dempo. However, they qualified for the last-four stage with the top spot in Group A due to a better net run-rate. Salgaocar finished second in Group A. Dempo and Alcon MCC, having lost both games, failed to progress.
Manas won the toss and batted first to post 158/8. Azaan Thota scored 28 off 18 balls (3×4, 1×6). He was their top run-getter, followed by Dhrumil Matkar (26 off 20 balls), Rajshekhar Harikant (24), captain Snehal Kauthankar (18) and Tunish Sawkar (15). Manas and Kaushal Hattangadi were the chief wicket-takers for Geno with three and two wickets respectively.
In reply, Geno had a disastrous start, losing half their side for 41 runs in seven overs before being skittled out for 102 in 14.3 overs. Sanath Nevagi with 23 and Sagar Vantamuri with 17 runs, were the notable contributors. Manas’ Tanay Thyagarajan, Dhrumil and Shubham Tari and Shubham Desai picked up two wickets each.
Earlier, Chowgule won the toss and opted to field in the must-win game for Dempo, who had to make up for Wednesday’s big loss to Salgaocar by winning by a certain margin to lift their net run-rate.
Dempo displayed aggressive attitude and scored 60 in the power-play stage. However, they could not maintain the scoring rate throughout, even tough they managed a decent total of 174/8. Captain Manthan Khutkar struck six boundaries and a sixer on his way to an elegant knock of 55 off 36 balls. He combined with player-of-the match Akash Parkar (22) for a crucial fourth-wicket partnership of 52 runs, which provided the backbone of the Dempo total.
Chowgule bowlers Mohit Redkar (2/22) and Krishna Thakur (2/37) struck at important juncture even as the fielders put in an ordinary shift barring one or two brilliant moments like the stunning diving catch by Sparsh Jain to send back a dangerous Sagar Mishra (18 off 11 balls; 2×4, 1×6).
In reply, Chowgule lost opener Kashyap Bakhle in the first over itself but recovered to get back on course with 39 runs partnership between skipper Samar Dubhashi and Shivam Amonkar (22).
Samar, who scored a smashing unbeaten half-century in the last match to take his side to victory over Salgaocar, looked to repeat the show as he raced to 29 which included three boundaries and one sixer before Parkar (3/24) got the prized wicket to end Samar’s 18-ball stay at the crease with Chowgule score being 41/2 in 4.1 overs.
Although the scoring rate was not an issue for Chowgule, their batters seemed to make too many errors in the choice of their shots when sensible cricket was required to reach the target.
After Divyansh played a blinder of a knock of 40 runs in just 18 balls (4×4, 3×6), following Veer Yadav’s 13-ball 23, Chowgule were in the driver’s seat at 118/4 in 11.4 overs with 57 runs needed off 50 balls. Yet, the batters to follow including Ranji Trophy player Mohit Redkar failed to apply themselves and paid the price for it as the team was bowled out for 149 in 17.3 overs. Dempo bowlers worked hard with Rohan Bogati taking 3/18 and Fardin Khan picking up 2/32.
