Desserts N’More Avengers beat Manas Mavericks by 1 run

PANAJI

Desserts N’More Avengers and RC Goa scored hard-fought victories in their respective matches of the PGML 4.0 at Panjim Gymkhana ground here on Saturday.

On a day characterised by low-scoring encounters, Desserts N’More Avengers beat Manas Mavericks by 1 run in the first match. The second match of the day saw RC Goa getting the better of Prescon Panthers by 11 runs.

Desserts N’More Avengers captain Rajshekhar Harikant delivered a Man of the Match display with a crucial knock of 38 runs off 24 balls to enable his side post a fighting total of 128 runs after they had been reduced to 24/4 in 7 overs. Saif Ali Karajgi also played a brilliant hand with 10-ball 21 runs. Sagar Salgaocar chipped in with a handy contribution of 20 runs. For Manas Mavericks, Ajinkya Kudtarkar bowled his heart out for a return of 3/16. With today's narrow victory, the Avengers opened their account in the prestigious league.

Manas Mavericks took the chase deep down to the last over bowled by Rajshekhar where 16 runs were required to win, but could take 14 runs aided by two boundaries of last two balls by Mehank Dharwadkar, who remained unbeaten on 19 off 12 balls. Vardhan Haldankar (35), captain Ilyas Naroo (33) and Ajinkya (23) had ensured Manas remained in the hunt despite the required run-rate howering around 8-run mark.

In the other match, RC Goa registered their second consecutive win of the league. Having posted 126/7, they restricted Prescon Panthers to 115 runs with an exhibition of disciplined bowling effort. Muzaffar Kadri (3/25) was named Man of the match as he ran through the rivals top-order.

It was not just Prescon batters finding it difficult to fire today, but RC Goa had also experienced a similar struggle in their batting essay before Nityay Kunkolienkar (32) and Samar Dubhashi (29) stitched an important stand of 40 runs for the 5th wicket. For Prescon, Harshal Shah was the standout bowler with a return of 3/17.

Managing Director of Vision Dempo Hospitality & Estates, Rajesh Dempo; and Harshvardhan Bhatkuly, Editor in Chief of Business Goa, presented the Grant Thornton Man-of-the Match award for respective matches.