Yogesh Kauthankar of Salgaocar CC receives Player of the Match trophy from Prashant Kakode, Panjim Gymkhana managing committee member.
PANAJI
Geno Sports Club and Salgaocar Cricket Club have entered the final of Bandodkar League T20 Cricket Tournament organised by Panjim Gymkhana. The final will be played on Monday morning.
In the semi-finals on Saturday, Geno scored a resounding 8-wicket victory over Dempo Cricket Club before Salgaocar Cricket Club crushed Margao Cricket Club by 85 runs at Panjim Gymkhana ground.
Sent into bat, Dempo put up a disappointing display with the bat as they managed a modest total of 129/9. Lower-order batter Mohit Yadav with 32 runs, was the top-scorer as the top and middle-order batters failed to fire. Geno bowlers dominated the proceedings with Pundalik Naik, Kaushal Hattangadi and Mehank Dharwadkar taking 2 wickets each.
Geno SC chased down the winning target in 15.5 overs with 8 wickets in hand. Player of the Match, Rajat Shet (64 off 47 balls; 6×4, 3×6) and Manthan Khutkar (56 off 36 balls; 5×4, 3×6) forged a partnership of 109 runs for the second wicket, to put their team on track to reach the final.
In the second semi-finals, Salgaocar Cricket Club tamed Margao Cricket Club after posting a huge total of 215/5 and bowling the opposition out for 130 runs.
MCC paid heavily for the chances dropped of Salgaocar openers Azaan Thota (74 off 49 balls; 5×4, 5×6) and Piyush Yadav (71 off 43 balls; 4×4, 7×6) in the first over of the innings as the duo built the highest partnership of the tournament worth 129. Ayush Verlekar played a blistering knock of 46 runs (19 balls; 5×4, 3×6) to fuel the charge in the later stages.
In reply, MCC batters fell way short of taking the attack to the rivals as Player of the Match, Yogesh Kauthankar (4/44) and Salgaocar captain Amulya Pandrekar (3/15) picked wickets at regular intervals. Avishkar Mone (31), Deepraj Gaonkar (25), Heramb Parab (20) and MCC captain Rajshekhar Harikant (20), all fell after brief period of power-hitting before MCC innings folded up in 13.5 overs.
