PANAJI
Goa, riding on a massive opening 209 run-stand by Aditya Suryawanshi (180) and Manthan Khutkar (81), secured a first innings lead of 96 runs after scoring 356 at stumps on Day 3 in the Cooch Behar Trophy U-19 (2017-18) Round V11 Group C clash against Goa at GCA Academy ground, Porvorim on Thursday.
Continuing from the overnight score of 133 for no loss, the openers -- wicket-keeper Suryawanshi 180 (342b, 26x4, 3x6) and Khutkar 81 (248b, 10x4) added another 76 runs to their stand on the penultimate day of the match. The huge partnership was finally broken on 83.5 overs when Khutkar became Akshay Manohar's first of four victims on the team score of 209.
Suryawanshi, opening only for the second match in the ongoing competition, forged another meaningful stand of 75 runs for the fourth wicket with Alam Khan 25 (69b, 3x4), until the Goa Colts wicketkeeper lost his wicket 20 short of a double hundred to a run-out. The batsmen to follow did not add much to the scoreboard, eventually folding for 356 in 132.1 overs.
In the Kerala attack, Akshay Manohar, the fifth-change bowler, had the best returns of 4/57 in 22 overs. Vishnu P Kumar had to toil for 43.1 overs to end up with 3/92.
In reply, the visitors fared much better at the top in their second essay. Shrugging off their failures in their first dig, Amal CA (10, 36b) along with his captain and wicket-keeper, Nikhil T (16, 48b, 2x4) saw off the day's play at 33 for no loss after 14 overs, still 63 runs in arrears.
Speaking to The Goan at the end of Day 3, Goa U-19 coach Prashant Kakode was disappointed on his team's performance overall.
"Barring the openers, the other batsmen were irresponsible in their shot selection and the first innings lead should have been much more. We will still try for an outright win even though the wicket is still good," stated the Goa U-19 coach.
