Staff Reporter
Panaji
The sixth edition of the Advocates Cricket League (ACL T20) kicked off with a bang as Legal Titans and Lawyer Challengers presented strong cases to register comprehensive wins in their respective matches played at SAG’s Chicalim ground in Vasco on Friday.
While Legal Titans punished Lotlikar Lions by 5 wickets, Lawyer Challengers dismissed the challenge of 18 Juners by inflicting an 82-run defeat.
The day however belonged to Legal Titans’ Pravin Gawas who smashed an unbeaten 108 off just 62 balls to give his team an easy victory.
Chasing the 159-run target, Legal Titans had a dismal start as they lost opener Satchit Mauskar and Kylo Ticlo, both for noughts, in the first three balls of the first over bowled by Ramkrishna S. But the third-wicket pair of Onkar Gawas (20 off 20) and Pravin kept them in the hunt with a 68-run partnership.
Once Onkar departed after making run-a-ball 20, Pravin took the onus on himself and began hitting the rival bowlers to all parts of the ground. Legal Titans however lost two more wickets in quick succession allowing Lotlikar Lions come back in the match. But Pravin stood his ground strong as he hit 8 fours and 9 sixes in his unbeaten whirlwind knock to help Legal Titans reach 162/5 in 18.3 overs and start the campaign on a winning note.
Earlier, Pravin impressed with the ball as well as his three wickets at crucial juncture restricted Lotlikar Lions to a moderate total of 158/6 after Legal Titans won the toss and opted to bowl first.
Shailesh Redkar top-scored for Lotlikar Lions with a 19-ball 32, while opener Sandeep Dmello (28) and Akshay Hegde (20) made some valuable contributions. It was however the 32-run partnership for the seventh wicket between Kunal Naik Gaonkar(26* off 27) and Gajanan Korgaokar (15* off 11) that helped Lotlikar Lions reach the respectable total of 158/6 in their allotted 20 overs. For Legal Titans, besides Pravin Gawas’ 3 for 16, Onkar Gaonkar and Digvijay Parab chipped in with two and one wicket each. Pravin was the obvious choice for the player of the
match award.
In the second match, which was reduced to 19 overs per side, Lawyer Challengers batted first and posted a challenging 160 for 9. Achit Shigwan hit a fiery 23-ball 41, while opener Sachin Sardessai scored 36-run cameo with the help of 7 fours. Vrusaj Talaulikar (22), Devanand Korgaonkar (17) and Mithun Govekar (14) were the other run-getters.
Prasad Sutar was the most successful bowler for 18 Juners taking 4 for 15.
In reply, 18 Juners lost their first six wickets for just 50 runs inside 10 overs, and were eventually bowled out for 78 in 14.5 overs, giving Lawyer Challengers a thumping 82-run win.
Harsh Parekh was the hero of the match claiming 5 for 17. Viraj Tar, Iftikar Agha, Achit Shigwan, and Vaibhav Bandekar claimed one wicket each.
For 18 Juners, barring Nihal Faleiro (10), Rushab Sawaikar (17) and Dinesh Naik (10) no other batter could reach the
double digit.
Earlier, Senior Advocate Subodh Kantak graced the inaugural ceremony as the chief guest. Also present on the occasion were guest of honour SN Josh, SAG treasurer Projot Chodankar, Senior Advocate Saresh Lotlikar, Advocate Iftikhar Agha, and Advocate
Jerran Divkar.
