PANAJI
The fifth and final league round of the Goa Premier Division League, organized by the Goa Cricket Association, concluded on Sunday. After the completion of this league round, Chowgule Sports Club (21 points) and Dempo Cricket Club (15 points) secured the top two positions and advanced to the final.
The final match will be played from April 15 to 17 at the GCA Academy ground in Porvorim under a day-night format and with the pink ball. In the fifth round, Dempo Cricket Club defeated Panjim Gymkhana by five wickets. On the other hand, Geno Sports Club had to be content with points from the first-innings lead.
At the Bandodkar ground of Panjim Gymkhana, the hosts, Panjim Gymkhana, batting first against Dempo, were dismissed for 143 runs. Soham Panvlkar scored 51 runs to offer some resistance, while Afridsab added 27 runs. Dempo bowlers maintained accuracy and did not allow the opposition to build a big total. Dempo then took the lead by scoring 266 runs in the first innings. Snehal Kavthankar scored a century of 119 runs and became the backbone of the innings. Aaditya Kota (61) supported him well. Abhinandan Thakur tried to bring Panjim back into the match by taking five wickets.
In the second innings, Panjim Gymkhana fought back well and scored 270 runs. Ishaan Gadekar (56), Soham Panvlkar (53 not out), and Vijesh Prabhudesai (35) played useful knocks. This set a target of 148 runs for Dempo. Dempo achieved the target, losing five wickets. Abhinav Tej Rana (35), Aaditya Kota (30), and Sarthak Bhike (30) played composed innings to take the team to victory. Shadab Khan took four wickets to offer resistance, but the win went to Dempo.
Meanwhile, in the three-day match at the NAPEX ground in the league, Salgaocar Cricket Club could not take the lead despite scoring 351 runs in the first innings. Their Yash Kasvankar played an attractive knock of 121 runs, while Shantanu Nevagi (49) and Piyush Yadav (39) also contributed. In reply, Geno Sports Club batted strongly and scored 385 runs to take a lead of 34 runs. Vikas Singh (87), Manthan Khutkar (57), and Nihal Surlkar (41) performed notably.
In the second innings, Salgaocar scored 243 for 8. Amulya Pandrekar remained unbeaten on 50 to steady the innings, while Shantanu Nevagi scored 47 runs. Nihal Surlkar bowled impressively and took six wickets. The match ended in a draw due to lack of time.
FINAL POINTS TABLE
Chowgule Cricket Club, 21 points (quotient 1.265)
Dempo Cricket Club, 15 points (quotient 1.115)
Geno Sports Club, 15 points (quotient 1.034)
Margao Cricket Club, 11 points (quotient 0.769)
Salgaocar Cricket Club, 10 points (quotient 1.223)
Panjim Gymkhana, 4 points (quotient 0.682)
