MARGAO
Ultracon Madgaon Royals beat Mapusa Dream Crushers by 4 wickets and 3 balls to spare in the Desserts n More Sarsangan Super Series Cricket at Arlem Cricket Ground
Electing to bat first, Mapusa Dream Crushers were not deterred by the early loss of Sarvesh Kamat as Smit Dalvi (52) along with his skipper Pankaj Naik 16 put on 41 runs in 28 balls for the 2nd wicket. The middle phase saw fortunes fluctuating between the two sides as Mapusa piled up 66 more runs in 49 balls but were pegged back as they lost wickets at regular intervals to be 109-7 in the 14th over.
Dream Crushers dreams of making to the knockouts hinged on two senior pros Sanjay Netravalkar who made 39 not out and Mahendra Pai Kuchelkar who scored 28 not out . Their whirlwind 67 run partnership in 40 balls helped salvage the innings as Mapusa put up 176/7 in 20 overs. The most expensive buy of the auctions Kartik Hattangadi justified his price with match figures of 3-0-20-2 while the left arm spinner Vikram Gaitonde picked 2-22. Shaunit Sawardekar and Akhil Nadkarni picked a wicket apiece.
In reply, Madgaon Royals started in top gear as they raced to 50 in 5.2 overs, before losing their skipper Damodar Pai Patnekar who made 29. The 2nd wicket partnership between Gaurish Shenvi Lotliker (53) and Prasheel Kamat (20) yielded 52 runs in 24 balls and put the Royals in commanding position.
All the Mapusa bowlers could do was just watch in awe as the Royals batters continued their onslaught with Kartik Hattangadi (24 not out), Sudhir Kenkre (11) and Akhil Nadkarni (12) scoring at more than 10 runs per over. Though the left arm Raghuvir Gharse snared 3 wickets and stood out with his steady line and length, he didn’t receive much support as Madgaon Royals raced to 177/6 in 17.5 overs, winning the match by 4 wickets with 13 balls to spare.
The pick of the bowlers was the Raghuvir Gharse with figures of 3-21 while Sanjay Netravalkar and Mahendra Pai Kuchelkar picked a wicket each. The 4 th straight loss in as many matches left Mapusa Dream Crushers at the bottom of the table.
Kartik Hattangadi was awarded the Desserts n More Man of the Match medal and the Estilo Moderno Realty Man of the Match trophy along with a cash prize of Rs.2000 for his brilliant all round display for the Madgaon Royals. The presentation was done by Shwetang Kamat Ghanekar, senior football player Madhav Netravalkar and Sandeep Hattangadi in the presence of Gomakant Mahambrey.
