BASIL SYLVESTER PINTO
PANAJI
Goa were shown they are light years behind the best sides in domestic cricket for the visually impaired, crashing to another defeat second day on the bounce. Karnataka shot out the hosts for a paltry 69 before cantering to an easy win in their Goa leg match of the Nagesh cricket tournament for the Blind 2018, at GCA Academy Ground, Porvorim on Friday.
Undefeated through the Group D stage, Karnataka piled the pressure early in the Goa innings after electing to field first. Karnataka captain Lokesha removed Nilesh Mirgal (B3), out stumped by Prakash Jayaramaiah. Goa found runs hard to come by with internationals bowling at each end and crawled to 14 for the loss of a wicket by the third over.
And from thereon, began a freefall as Sunil Ramesh (B3) removed key batsmen (Sandesh Ghode and Ashutosh Mavaskar) bemused by being castled and stumped respectively. Aftaf Patel (B2) followed his team-mates to the pavilion as Sunil completed a dream fourth over, picking up three wickets and conceding just four runs.
From an abject 14/4 in 14.3 overs, one-down B1 star Akshay Borikar appeared in good nick and searching for an able ally. It did help to have two B1 (totally blind) batsmen in Akshay Borikar and Tukaram Gavkar at the wicket for the fifth-wicket association as with each run they scored, runs were doubled. The promising partnership ran aground with the fifth wicket going down with an additional 30 runs to the score. Gavkar (10) appeared all at sea to a delivery going wide and was stumped short of his ground off Harish.
Goa labored to their 50 that came excruciatingly in 7.4 overs with half their side back in the hut. It seemed like eternity for Karnataka to claim their next wicket which came in the 12th over, with wicket-keeper batsman Rahul Damor (B2) losing his wicket for 13 with Sunil in the act once again running him out. Goa at this juncture was left gasping for survival at 67/6.
Soon after, a sharp catch by the ever-involved Sunil at short leg celebrated the dismissal of key B1 batsman, Akshay Borikar off his category number, Maruthi KN. The Nagpur lad plying his trade for Goa looked the only batsman at home for the local side while wickets collapsed like a pack of playing cards at the other end. Goa folded for 69 in 13 overs, with Sunil’s 3/15 and Basappa’s 3/10, both sending down two overs each, impressing in the Karnataka attack.
The chase began as internationals, Lokesha and Sunil began middling the ball from word go by taking the singles and twos with ease as they strolled in the park. The Lokesha-Sunil opening pair raised an exact 50 in 4.2 overs. While Sunil stayed unbeaten on 36 off 13 balls with the help of eight delightful boundaries, his skipper, Lokesha made an unconquered 32 off 19 deliveries aided with six hits to the ropes as Karnataka romped home.
In the post-match ceremony, despite the fact Sunil Ramesh (B3) had a better all-round performance on the morning, Basappa Waddagol (B1)who gave a spirited account of himself with the ball was handed over the player-of-the-match award, as the former had already won two from the earlier games. Goa had something to cheer about as their player Akshay Borikar was declared the best B1 category player of the Goa leg of the tournament.
