MARGAO
Salcete Stallions beat Mapusa Dream Crushers by 52 runs in the final to clinch the Estilo Moderno Realty Sarsangan Super Series Cricket Championships.
Electing to bat first, Salcete Stallions got off to a blazing start with the in-form Durgesh Prabhugaonkar (53*, 20 balls, 6x4s, 4x6s) hitting his 6th half-century of the EMR Super Series. He along with Sarvesh Prabhugaonkar (46, 32 balls, 2x4s, 3x6s) put on 63 in just 4 overs to put Salcete Stallions in a commanding position.
However, the introduction of the veteran spinner Mahesh Churi immediately put brakes on the Stallions' scoring rate with the bowler dismissing Sarvesh for 46 and Vardhan for 10. Sandeep Dalal (24, 19 balls, 1x4s, 1x6s) and Sanat Prabhudesai (15, 12 balls, 1x4s) consolidated the innings before captain Sahish Mahambrey (26, 9 balls, 1x4s, 2x6s) gave the innings the much-needed momentum to help Stallions finish at 199/6 in 20 overs.
For the Mapusa Dream Crushers, Mahesh Churi (2-21), Kaushal Churi (1-20), Rajaram Kundaikar (1-27) and Mehank Dharwadkar (1-33) were the successful bowlers.
Chasing 200 to win, Mapusa Dream Crushers got off to a disastrous start, losing their captain Yash Prabhugaonkar to Durgesh on the very first ball but recovered thanks to a 34-run partnership in 22 balls for the 2nd wicket between Mehank Dharwadkar (15) and Kaushal Churi (18).
Venktesh Prabhu Verlekar (26, 14 balls, 4x4s, 1x6s) and Rajaram Kundaikar (25, 25 balls, 1x6s) tried their best to up the ante but lost their wickets going for quick runs. With the required run rate nearing 12 runs per over, Mapusa Dream Crushers lost wickets in a heap and fell short in the end by 52 runs.
Saish Hegde (15*) and Sanjay Netravalkar (14*) were not able to match the steep, climbing run rate as Mapusa Dream Crushers finished at 147/8. For Salcete Stallions, Sudesh Prabhudesai (2-12), Balkrishna Hodarkar (2-24), Durgesh Prabhugaonkar (2-25), Dr Prasad Ghode (1-17) and Sandeep Dalal (1-24) were the successful bowlers.
Durgesh Prabhugaonkar won the EMR Man of the Finals trophy for his superb all-round performance for the Salcete Stallions.
