Darshan Misal receives the man-of-the-match award from Bhavesh Zambaulikar, president of Yuva de Goa.
Photo Credits: The Goan Everyday
PANAJI
Manohar Parrikar Trophy witnessed an epic encounter in Friday’s first semi-final with incredible batting performances from Ranji Trophy batsmen, Darshan Misal of MCC and Aditya Kaushik of Khorlim XI, producing great entertainment in the high-scoring match won by MCC by 17 runs at GCA academy ground.
MCC will play the final against Mandovi Parivar, who beat Goa Police by 15 runs in the second semi-final of the tournament.
After MCC captain Darshan Misal’s whirlwind 82 off 30 balls including the fastest fifty of the tournament in 21 balls, powered MCC to 211/4; Khorlim XI opener Aditya Kaushik single-handedly fought a heroic battle with a knock of sheer class. He was dominant throughout and registered a whopping 12 sixes and nine fours in his unbeaten 135 off 65 balls.
Aditya’s brilliant knock – one of the all-time best in Goa T20s circuit, which also saw the fastest century of the tournament coming off 57 balls; went in vain as Khorlim XI were restricted to 194/5 in the run-chase.
Khorlim XI started their chase in a disastrous way as hard-hitting Goa opener Ishan Gadekar was run-out in a mix-up. They kept on losing wickets regularly but Aditya stood tall amidst the ruins bringing up his half-century in 36 balls.
As the asking-rate increased, the 29-year-old went berserk and in the process scored his next fifty runs of just 21 deliveries. He kept on hitting MCC bowlers to all parts of the ground with a Nihal Suralakar over bleeding 27 runs, becoming the most expensive over of the tournament, while Shubham Dessai’s cost 21 runs.
No top-order batsman managed to forge a significant partnership with Aditya although the experienced duo of Rahul Keni (14) and captain Saheel Dhuri (14) got the starts. It was the sixth-wicket stand of 85 runs between Aditya and Maliksab Shirur (13 not out) that was the highest in the Khorlim XI innings. However, it was too little too late in the end. For MCC, Somesh Prabhudessai took two wickets while Shreyas Usgaonkar and Kaushal Hattangadi took one wicket each.
Earlier, Darshan Misal’s day began in the perfect manner as he won the toss and elected to bat on what looked like a fantastic batting surface.
The 28-year-old left-hander was in terrific touch with the bat as he struck seven sixers and six boundaries, also bringing up the fastest half-century of the tournament in the process. Darshan, who came to the crease after the fall of opener Manthan Khutkar (50 runs off 32 balls) in the 12th over, struck three consecutive sixers in a Maliksab Shirur over with the first one of the lot taking Darshan to 50 off the 21st ball. The earlier fastest fifty (off 23 balls) of the competition had come from the bat of Porvorim Warriors captain Swapnil Asnodkar, who had also scored 117 runs in that match against Dukes Cricketers to notch up the first century in the tournament.
Darshan, who put on 107 runs for the third wicket with Aditya Suryawanshi, carried on hammering Khorlim XI bowlers adding 30 more runs in nine balls to his kitty before being caught in the deep by Ishan Gadekar in the final over bowled by Rupesh Asgaonkar.
Aditya, who was dropped twice when on 8 by Maliksab and then on 48 by Rupesh Asgaonkar, also scored a half-century with his 51 coming off 42 balls. The No 3 batsman was involved in a 62-run stand with Manthan, who played with a lot of elegance while hitting three fours and sixers each, for the second wicket.
MCC, who were 88/1 after 10 overs and 134/2 in 15 overs, finished with a flourish as they scored 77 runs in the last five overs. Khorlim XI bowlers Amit Yadav, Rupesh Asgaonkar and Saheel took a wicket each.
Meanwhile, Goa Ranji Trophy all-rounder Deepraj Gaonkar came up with an outstanding performance to inspire Mandovi Parivar Canacona to a 15-run victory over a battling Goa Police.
Man-of-the match Deepraj scored 44 runs in Mandovi Parivar’s total of 181/7 after captain Snehal Kauthankar had elected to bat. Deepraj then bowled with a great sense of purpose to pick up three crucial wickets for just 24 runs off his four overs, one of them via a sharp return catch to send back captain Chandrakant Ghadi (11). He fielded superbly and also effected a timely run out to swing the match completely in Mandovi Parivar’s favour.
The 23-year-old bowled the second-last over of the match with Goa Police requiring 24 runs off 12 balls with the big-hitting opener Avinash Gawas (73) and hard-hitter Sanjay Naik (14) at the crease.
Deepraj drew a miscued loft from Avinash, who hit eight sixers and two boundaries in his 52-ball knock, to be caught at point by Avishkar Mone. Deepraj then dived to the field on his follow-through to run out Sanjay Naik, who was attempting a sharp single. Moreover, just 5 runs came off the over leaving the policemen a daunting target of 19 from the last over. Craig Dourado gave only three runs and Goa Police ended up with 166/8.
Goa Police gave a star-studded Mandovi Parivar a run for their money as the likes of Avinash, Vinod Wilson (23) and Sarvanna (20) hit cleared the boundary rope at ease while Ranji Trophy spinner Amulya Pandrekar (1/42) proved most expensive bowler for Mandovi Parivar, but he bowled one good over at the halfway stage of the inning, picking the wicket of Sarvanna and giving away just a run, to get Mandovi back into the game. This was the end of the second-wicket partnership of 51 runs, which had threatened to take the game away from the ‘Men in yellow’ and set the cat among the pigeons.
Goa Police were still fighting and until a talented Samarth Gawas, who had a knee injury while fielding, looked handicapped to play his natural game and was out cheaply; their fans would have been heartbroken and neutrals left wondering what if the ‘superman’ was his normal self.
Earlier, Mandovi Parivar batsman Kashyap Bakhale scored a good half-century with his 55 runs coming from 48 balls including five hits to the fence. Snehal scored 23 while Robin D’Souza made 20 runs and Avishkar Mone 19. For Goa Police, Avinash and Ashok Rathod picked up two wickets each while Sanjay Naik and Vinod Wilson took one wicket apiece.
