PANAJI
Goa Police produced a steely performance to script a 12-run victory over Salgaocar Cricket Club and enter the semi-finals of inaugural Manohar Parrikar Trophy T20 cricket tournament at GCA academy ground on Thursday. MCC inflicted a crushing 9-wicket defeat on Ram 11 Mapusa in the other quarters to cruise into the last-4.
Chasing Goa Police’s total of 152/6, Salgaocar CC led by Goa Ranji Trophy pro Lakshay Garg, looked in control of the match as they required 52 runs off the final eight overs with six wickets in hand. A well-set Alam Khan (28 off 35 balls) had talented all-rounder Lakshay Garg for company. It looked like Salgaocar would cruise from here but Goa Police staged a remarkable comeback via Ashok Rathod. The wily medium-pacer bowled a stunning over to dismiss players with big-hitting capability “ Lakshay and Badal Singh “ in the same over while giving away just 2 runs in the 14th over of the nail-biting encounter. He returned in the 16th over to send back Alam to turn the game completely in the favour of the policemen.
For his marvelous performance of picking 3 wickets for just 17 runs off his four overs, Ashok Rathod was named man-of-the match.
Earlier after winning the toss, Chandrakant Ghadi played a crucial knock of 46 runs as Goa Police recovered from a nervy start to post a decent total.
Salgaocar’s left-arm spinner Badal Singh (3/24) was the chief wicket-taker. He dealt two blows in quick succession in early stages of
Goa Police batting while bowling his first three overs economically.
In the other quarters, MMC inflicted a crushing nine-wicket defeat onto Ram 11 Mapusa. Young leg-spinner Somesh Prabhudessai bagged four wickets giving away just five runs in his four overs, which also included a maiden, and was named man-of-the match.
After electing to bat first, Ram 11 were disappointing in their batting effort as the entire team could only manage 84 runs despite batting for 19.4 overs. Kaushal Singh’s 28 was their highest individual score. Sanath Nevagi made 15 while Omprakash Chauhan contributed 12 runs.
Along with Somesh, captain and Ranji Trophy star Darshan Misal (3/15), Shreyas Usgaonkar (2/21) and Nihal Surlakar (1/13) were amongst the wickets.
In reply, Aditya Suryawanshi’s unbeaten 57 and Suraj Dongre’s 22 not out propelled MCC to 88/1 in 9 overs.
MCC will clash with Khorlim XI in the first semi-final while Goa Police will take on Mandovi Parivar Canacona in the other semi-final on Friday.
