BRIEF SCORES
IOC 162 for 6 (Jay Bista 72, Wasim Jaffer 44; Saurabh Bandekar 3 for 27) defeated Golden Tigers 154 for 7 (Amogh Desai 52; Rajesh Pawar 2 for 19) by 8 runs Man of the Match: Jay Bista
The Goan Network
Porvorim
IOC edged Golden Tigers by eight runs to progress into the semi-finals of the Goa Corporate League T-20 tournament at GCA Academy grounds, here on Thursday.
Opting to bat first, IOC made a competitive 162 in a must-win encounter. But in the Powerplay, IOC were unable to capitalize as the Golden Tigers opening pacers, Saurabh Bandekar and Gaurish Gawas complemented each other well in their initial two-over spell by maintaining a tight line and length.
The in-form Jay Bista and India player, Cheteshwar Pujara looked to play off the opening burst, until Bandekar was rewarded for some fabulous seam bowling with the prized scalp of Pujara in the 4th over who looked at trying to up the ante. Continuing from where he left off in the last two league matches, offie Amit Yadav introduced in the next over produced yet another early breakthrough when he sent Ravikant Shukla back to the pavilion cheaply. With 23 for 2, and seeing his team in trouble Bista shifted gears and began to look for singles and twos with his captain Wasim Jaffer, who joined him at the crease.
As their partnership grew, Bista brought out his wide-range of strokes again one of which included an innovative scoop shot off Bandekar which even had him off balance as he completed the stroke. Jaffer joined his young Mumbai partner playing the big shots as well. When Bista finally departed for a well-compiled 72 (60b, 6x4, 3x6), he had combined for a 103-run third-wicket stand with Bista in 75 deliveries. They eventually ended with 162 for 6. For the Golden Tigers, Saurabh Bandekar provided a defining display of accuracy and movement with returns of 3 for 27 off his four overs.
In reply to the target of just over eight an over, Golden Tigers got off to a nervy start with opener Amogh Desai playing successive shots that evaded the reach of the fielder. By the end of the first over, Amogh with his captain, Sagun Kamat with him, took the score to 9 for no loss. As they batted on, Amogh grew in confidence with his captain in fine nick who struck a magnificent six at the end of the third over. They brought up an exact 50 run partnership in 4.5 overs with both the openers shaping well. But with the introduction of slow left-arm orthodox bowler Rajesh Pawar in the 5th over, the flow of runs began to get curtailed. Runs began to dry up from either end, as Pawar in tandem with Khizar Dafedar, another slow bowler took a stranglehold on the proceedings. With the required run rate beginning to climb, Sagun brought out a big shot only to be a victim of a well-judged catch by Bista at the boundary off the bowling of Pawar.
At 56/1 off 7.3 overs and 107 to get from 75 balls, the game was still very much in the grasp of Golden Tigers. And in company of keeper-batsman Rahul Keni, who flirted with risk oft and again, a well-set Amogh took the team score to 103, until Keni had lady luck finally play against him to perish with his cheekiness finding him short of his crease. With 103/2 after 14 overs, and a required run-rate of 10 an over with eight wickets in hand and lot of batting to follow, Golden Tigers were expected to get over the line with Amogh Desai guiding his team through. But fate willed otherwise with an expensive Hooda returning for another spell to immediately pick up the significant stick of Desai who departed for a fine 52 (46b, 4x4, 2x6). All was still not lost, with good all-rounders in the mix and Reagan Pinto, who played well yesterday walking out to bat. But Jaffer, the seasoned campaigner captaining IOC, marshalled his bowlers deftly and accordingly with timely wickets to the end. As in their previous match against ONGC which they lost by 17 runs a game that they should have won, history was to repeat itself for the Golden Tigers and were tamed again to bow out in the league stage itself.
In the second match, a Group B encounter played under floodlights,
