Goa relegated following 276 run defeat against Odisha

NT NETWORK

BHUBANESWAR

Goa’s batting woes have let the team down once again as they lost by 276 runs to Odisha in their Elite Group C, Ranji Trophy match played at Bhubaneswar on Wednesday. After this defeat Goa have been relegated to the Plate Group.

Goa were bundled out for a mere 111 runs as they were chasing a mammoth 387 to win. Odisha’s Mohanty duo (Basant Mohanty and Rajesh Mohanty) ran through the Goan batting order taking 5 and 4 wickets each.

Beginning the third day Odisha’s second innings was not an impressive one. They were bowled out for a 151 runs but not before posting a 387 run target for Goa.

Krishna Das and Lakshay Garg brought something to smile for Goa as they took 4 and 5 wickets each to halt the Odisha batsmen pile more runs. Amogh Desai took the other remaining wicket.

The only top scorer for Odisha was their wicket keeper Sujit Lenka who scored 39 runs off 30 balls which included 8 boundaries. Following him was number 4 batsman Debashish Samantray who made a cautious 31 facing 76 deliveries and hitting three boundaries. Wickets feel on regular intervals and Goan bowlers made sure that an solid partnership would not form.

Chasing 387, Goa were in fix early in the second innings, finding themselves 11/4. Captain Sagun Kamat, Sumiran Amonkar, Keenan Vaz and Amit Verma failed to even reach double digits. Amonkar and Verma were packed off without even opening their account.

It was Amogh Desai along with Snehal Kauthankar who made an attempt to hold fort but Rajesh Mohanty’s fine delivery bowled him out for just 18 runs. At this point Goa were 44/5.

Soon to follow Kauthankar was Amogh Desai who too was bowled out to a fine ball bowled by Biplab Samantray. Amogh’s inning came to a close of 28 runs off 40 deliveries which included six boundaries.

There were no signs of saving the match from here on and wickets continued to tumble as the Odisha bowling attack had a field day.

Twenty runs later Darshan Misal was on his way back to the pavillion after the umpire raised his finger for an LBW call off Basant Mohanty’s delivery. Misal could add only 20 runs to the total. Lakshay Garg was given out in the same fashion with his innings end for just four runs.

Suyash Prabhudessai was caught by Sandeep Pattnaik off Basant Mohanty’s delivery for just 18 runs which came off sturdy 32 balls. Amulya Pandrekar was the last batsman to fall for a mere 12 runs.