BASIL SYLVESTER PINTO
PANAJI
If middle-order Robin Bist’s smashing unbeaten 169 (265b, 11x4, 4x6) was responsible in piling up a mammoth score for the visitors, it was their left-arm fast bowler Tanvir Mashrat Ul-Haq’s early breakthroughs in each innings and Man-of-the Match leg-break bowler Rahul Chahar’s 9/167 match-haul efforts that played a principal part in the Elite Group C table-toppers Team Rajasthan humiliating the wooden-spoon holders Goa with a crushing 10-wicket defeat shortly before scheduled lunch at GCA Academy ground, Porvorim on Wednesday.
The hosts tottering at 199/5 in 49.3 overs when stumps were drawn on Tuesday, started the final day still 70 runs in arrears and facing a herculean prospect of playing out of their skins to eke a confidence-boosting point from the game.
Goa professional batsman, Amit Verma who shared a massive 175-run third-wicket stand with his skipper, Sagun Kamat (96) on the penultimate day was witness to the highs and lows of the innings unfolding itself. Walking in at 11/2 with his side having a gargantuan 258-run deficit still to overcome, Verma went about his business as a thorough professional with class, confidence and composure along with a returning to form seasoned campaigner, Kamat. As the experienced pair dug deep and looked inseparable to end the day unconquered, Kamat against the run of play succumbed four-runs shy of a 10th First Class hundred when an offer to drive off Ul-Haq found the inside edge of his willow to an elated Chetan Bist behind stumps.
Goa were only 26 legal deliveries to stumps at that point. Another two needless wickets of Amulya Pandrekar (3) and Snehal Kauthankar (1) were lost due to shot indiscretion as Verma stayed put on 84 (136b, 190m, 10x4, 1x6) at stumps on the penultimate day with a defeat pretty much writ on their wall. Enter the final day, the result was less of the actuality but the severity of the impact likely to be levied upon the hosts was the question to the connoisseur of the game present.
New man striding in, 21-year-old Suyash Prabudessai adopted his inimitable no-holds-barred approach while 31-year-old Goa professional Amit Verma endured to persevere with careful shot selection. Greenhorn Prabhudessai’s youthful exuberance looked good as long as it lasted while Verma needled the field with finesse running the singles and twos with relative ease while finding the odd boundary as their sixth-wicket association motored to 59 runs at close to a run-a-ball when a contentious decision went against the home side. Amit Verma who had earlier brought up his 13th First Class hundred, second for Goa with a well-placed single towards long on off leggie Rahul Chahar in 153 deliveries could only add another 18 runs to his score.
After stroking his 15th hit to the ropes at third man off leggie Rahul Chahar, only four balls hence the lanky 19-year-old spinner had the last laugh when his excessive appeal for a feather on the cherry to the keeper was upheld under questionable circumstances. Disapprovingly, Verma (118, 173b, 240m, 15x4, 1x6) returned to the shed with Goa slumping further into the abyss at 258/6. A clueless Darshan Misal on 5 was bowled through the gate by the in-form pacer, Ul-Haq. Prabhudessai’s belligerent run-a-ball 37 studded with seven boundaries ended tamely leg before to the guiles of Rahul Chahar.
Goa were now 275/8 and the opposition openers were possibly thinking of getting a handful of runs to close out the game for an early ice bath. With only another run added to the total, wicket-keeper Samar Dubhashi (1) failed yet again to be caught by his opposite number off the same bowler. Brief resistance for the tenth wicket between pacers, Lakshay Garg (14) and Krishna Das (5*) with their late fireworks ensuring another 19 runs as Goa folded their second innings at 295 in 69.1 overs with Rahul Chahar bagging his fourth fifer in the season as Garg holed out to Robin Bist at long off.
Set a measly 27 runs to get in the fourth innings chase, the visitors closed out the game in just five overs with their openers, Amit Gautam and Chetan Bist staying at the end on 11 and 15 respectively.
With another defeat, their sixth in eight matches, with only two first-innings lead draws to offer solace (Jammu & Kashmir, Services). Goa has been pushed to the pits with six points and demotion to Plate next year appearing increasingly certain. Staring at the face of the ignominy is that in their three successive defeats, two resulted in heavy 10-wicket losses (Tripura, Team Rajasthan).
Tripura who managed to eke out a point in a tantalizing draw against a formidable Jharkhand on Wednesday are now five points ahead of Goa in the Elite Group C battle for relegation in the ensuing season. Meanwhile, Team Rajasthan sit comfortably on the perch of the 10-team table with 44 points from six wins and two draws, six points clear of their nearest competitor, Uttar Pradesh (38).
