PANAJI
Defending champions Prescon Panthers defeated debutants RC Goa by six wickets, while Priority Titans, also in its debut season, defeated Dempo Challengers in a one-sided encounter of the PGML 2.0 T20 tournament at the Panjim Gymkhana grounds on Sunday.
Batting first, RC Goa put up 133 runs on the scoreboard for the loss of seven wickets, with only five players managing to hit double figures. Swayam Naik was the top scorer with 35 runs in 28 balls, while a quickfire 23 runs from 17 balls by wicketkeeper-batsman Mahendra Pai Kuchelkar, helped RC Goa put up a respectable score on the board. Prescon Panthers’ bowlers Iftikar Agha, Ajay Pednekar, Buddhadev Mangaldas and Saif Ali Karajgi claimed one wicket each.
Prescon Panthers scored 137 in 19.2 overs with opener Paresh Bandekar anchoring the innings with 35 runs off 40 balls, with six well-struck boundaries. Bandekar was adjudged man of the match. Paresh Miskin, Parai Dubhashi and Om Fadte managed to take a wicket each, but could not manage to stop the Panthers from winning the game.
In the second match of the day, another debutant team, Priority Titans defeated Dempo Challengers in a one-sided match, which saw the latter team crumble to 72 runs all out, thanks to a sharp bowling performance by the Titans.
Devidas Kholkar scored 29 runs in 38 balls to emerge as the leading run scorer, even as lower-order batsman Dattesh Priolkar tried to shore up a sagging performance with 17 runs in 16 balls. Muktiar Kadri took three wickets in 11 balls giving away just six runs, even as Prajyot Rivonkar took two wickets for the Titans.
Priority Titans made light of the target set by the Dempo Challengers, scoring 78 runs in just 10.2 overs, thanks to a quickfire 35 in 14 balls by Muktiar Kadri, who was adjudged man of the match.
On Saturday, the inaugural day of the T20 tournament, Priority Titans (134/9) defeated Manas Mavericks (130 all out), while Dempo Challengers (158/8) defeated Baale Tigers 77.
