MARGAO
Mapusa Dream Crushers and Salcete Stallions won their matches of EMR Sarsangan Super Series Cricket at MCC, Margao.
Mapusa Dream Crushers beat Madgaon Royals by 5 wickets and 4 overs to spare in the morning match while Salcete Stallions beat Laziz Super Kings by 47 runs in the second match.
Put in to bat first, Madgaon Royals got off to a disastrous start with Kaushal Churi picking 2 wickets to reduce them to 16-2. The Royals kept losing wickets at regular intervals with Mahendra Audi (22), Akhil Gaitonde (28), Ashesh Dukle (11), Raunak Nargundker (22) and Vikram Gaitonde (17) getting dismissed after decent starts, with Madgaon Royals managing to score only 126/7 in their allotted 20 overs. For the MDC, Rajesh Colvalcar 2-16 and Mehank Dharwadkar 2-34 were quite successful but the standout performances came from the father-son duo of Mahesh Churi (1-19) and Kaushal Churi (2-10), who picked wickets at crucial intervals to stem the run flow.
In reply, Mapusa Dream Crushers were rocked by the spin duo of Vikram Gaitonde and Aditya Dalal and got reduced to 27-4 in 5.2 overs. However an important 62-run partnership in 37 balls between Yash Prabhugaonkar (53*, 26 balls, 6x4s, 2x6s) and Mahesh Churi (34*, 29 balls, 4x4s) not only resurrected them but also put MDC on course to victory, which they achieved in 16 overs, reaching 128/5. For Madgaon Royals, the successful bowlers were Aditya Dalal (3-18), Vikram Gaitonde (1-25) and Shainit Sawardekar (1-27).
With the win, Mapusa Dream Crushers made it to Qualifier I while Madgaon Royals will have to play the Eliminator. Mahesh Churi won the Man of the Match medal and a pair of batting gloves for his all-round performance for the Mapusa Dream Crushers.
In the evening match, Salcete Stallions were asked to bat and posted 150/7, thanks to useful contributions from Sahish Mahambrey (17), Sarvesh Prabhugaonkar (15), Sanat Prabhudesai (19) and Sandeep Dalal (16). However, they could reach 150 only due to the lower middle-order duo of Samprabh Phaldesai (28, 20 balls, 1x4s, 1x6s) and Amith Kamat (26*, 14 balls, 1x4s, 1x6s), who put on 42 runs for the 7th wicket in 24 balls, to help Salcete Stallions reach a respectable score.
For Laziz Super Kings, the successful bowlers were Pradip Shetye (2-25), Deval Karmali (2-29). Amod Borkar (1-22), Laxmikant Kurade (1-22) and Somay Naik (1-32).
In reply, having lost their skipper Amod Borkar due to a finger injury, Laziz Super Kings -- needing to achieve the target in 10 overs to make it to the knockouts -- just could not maintain the required run rate of 15 and lost wickets at regular intervals, to fold up for 103 in 17.1 overs.
With the win, Salcete Stallions confirmed their place in Qualifier I while Laziz Super Kings could not make it to the knockout stage. Sandeep Dalal of the Stallions won the Man of the Match medal and a pair of batting gloves.
Salcete Stallions (8 points) and Mapusa Dream Crushers (7 points) will play the 1st Qualifier on April 22 while Madgaon Royals (6 points) and Atal Setu Brigade (4 points) will face off in the Eliminator the same day in the evening. PDK Kings (3 points) and Laziz Super Kings (2 points) could not make it to the knockouts.
