Hurricanes, Lawyer’s Challengers Make it Two in Two

PANJIM:
Hurricanes and Lawyer’s Challengers continued their winning run beating Mapusa Troopers and Stars respectively for their second successive wins in the 4th edition of Advocates Cricket League (ACL T20) being played at GCA ground in Porvorim, on Sunday. While Hurricanes outclassed Mapusa Troopers by 8 wickets, Lawyer’s Challengers got the better of Stars by 61 runs.

In the first match, Mapusa Troopers batted first but managed a paltry 111 for 6 in stipulated 20 overs. Barring Sanket Salgaonkar’s 40 and Harshal Ghate’s unbeaten 39, no other batter could reach into double digit. Pravin Gauns was the most successful bowler for Hurricanes taking 2 for 8, while Rohan Shirodkar and Viraj Tar scalped one wicket each.

Chasing the modest 112-run target, Hurricanes lost their first wicket at 18 with their last match hero Vitthalraj Sangodkar departing cheaply for 13. However, opener Pravin Gauns (unbeaten 39 off 33) and the next batters – Dishan Naik (21 off 14) and the eventual man-of-the-match prize winner Viraj Tar (unbeaten 33 of 23) helped the team reach the target in just 13.3 overs with 8 wickets in hand. Siddhesh Bhaip and Dominic Pereira shared the two wickets that fell in Hurricanes’ innings.

In the second match, Lawyer’s Challengers posted a mammoth 179 for 7 in 20 overs against Stars. Akshay Vengurlekar top-scored with 36, Sanjay Parab hit an unbeaten 20-ball 31, openers Sachin Sardessai and Dattaparasad Shirodkar contributed with 27 and 28 runs respectively, while Shridhar Naik (14) and Dattaraj Gawas (22) also made their presence felt. Krishnakant Hegde and Rohan Parulekar took 3 wickets each for Stars.

Stars never looked getting any closer to the mammoth 180-run target as they kept losing wickets at regular interval. Dene Rosario (23), Mayur Pednekar (22), Sairaj Dhond (18) and Swapnil Kambli (16) made the scoreboard ticking, but their efforts were not enough to get them cross the line, They eventually managed only 128 for 9 in 16 overs and lost the match by 61 runs. One of their batters was retired hurt. Sandip Naik of Lawyer’s Challengers claimed 3 for 19 and he was adjudged the man of the match. He was well-supported by Dattaraj Pednekar, who also bagged 3 wickets. Vedant Naik, Sanjay Parab and Dattaprasad Shirodkar took one wicket each.