the goan I network
PANAJI
Resoluteness in the second essay by Sunny SC, ensured the side escaped with a hard-fought draw against Chowgule SC at 241/7 (f/o) in 94 overs when stumps were drawn on Day 3 of the Goa Premier League match played at Academy ground, Porvorim.
Sunny SC openers, Sumiran Amonkar and Mahesh Rao, resuming on an overnight 10 for no loss, still 294 runs adrift after the follow-on was enforced upon the side, began sedately. The pair raised 110 for the first wicket. But with the loss of Rao 56 (142b, 5x4) and Suyash Prabhudessai in successive balls in the 42nd over, Sunny SC were pegged back. With Amonkar 47 (133b, 4x4) falling next at team score of 132, Chowgule raised their hopes of securing an innings win. And their belief to the cause increased further after Sufiyan Alam fell for 32 with the scoreboard reading 153/4 in 58.3 overs.
This brought Saurabh Dubey and Maliksab Sirur together at the crease to stem the tide with a patient and determined 60-run fifth wicket partnership. With Dubey’s departure at team score of 213 after making a valiant 41 (106b, 7x4, 2x6), much had be done for the match to peter towards a draw. It was left for Maliksab Sirur on 31 (104b, 5x4) and captain Heramb Parab on 5 to take the side to a fighting draw, after another two wickets fell rather quickly against the run of play.
In the Chowgule attack, Akshay Darekar was a stand out with 2/30 at 0.94 to the over. Krunal Kar and Al Amin also picked two wickets each.
In another match, in Sanguem, Seiko CC staved off the Salgaocar SC first innings mountain of runs to grind out a draw. Declaring at the overnight, 509/4, 253-runs ahead, Salgaocar SC had Seiko CC fighting for survival through the day.
Seiko openers, Ishan Gadekar and Rahul Mehta began well raising a sound platform of 99 runs until the unfortunate injury to Gadekar halted their progress. Gadekar left the field on 28 retired hurt and his partner, Mehta followed suit after making 40. This brought one-down Utkarsh Agarwal to the fore with a character-defining innings of 95 (134b, 10x4, 3x6). Avdhoot Dandekar made an important 43 in the middle-order. But it was the battling 52-run stand for the ninth wicket between Vaibhav Singh 27* (77b, 6x4) and Amulya Pandrekar 34 (51b, 4x4, 3x6) that saw the innings close at 303/9 in 86 overs at the end of day’s play.
