PANAJI
In the Vijay Hazare Trophy Elite cricket tournament, the Goa team suffered a 6-wicket defeat at the hands of a strong Punjab side on Tuesday. The match was played at the K.L. Saini Stadium in Jaipur. Punjab won the toss and elected to field first. Goa were bowled out for 211 runs in 33.3 overs. Punjab chased down the target comfortably, scoring 212 runs for the loss of 4 wickets in 35 overs.
Goa got off to a poor start as both openers, Arjun Tendulkar and Kashyap Bakhle, were dismissed early, leaving the team struggling at 20 for 2. Snehal Kauthankar and Suyash Prabhudessai steadied the innings and took the score to 67. After Snehal's dismissal, Suyash and Lalit added 43 runs to the next partnership.
Suyash played an aggressive knock, scoring 66 runs off just 43 balls, which included 8 fours and 4 sixes. Lalit Yadav contributed 54 runs from 59 balls, hitting 5 fours and 2 sixes. Abhinav Tejrana (6), Deepraj Gaonkar (5), and Vikash (12) failed to make significant contributions. Rajashekhar Harikant remained unbeaten on 20.
For Punjab, leg-spinner Mayank Markande was the most successful bowler, claiming 3 wickets for 29 runs. Arshdeep Singh, Sukhdeep Bajwa, and Krish Bhagat picked up two wickets each, while Naman Dhir took one wicket.
Punjab too had a shaky start, losing two wickets for 17 runs. Harnoor Singh then held the innings together. He remained unbeaten on 94, scoring his runs off 90 balls with 11 fours and one six. He added a match-winning partnership of 131 runs for the fourth wicket with Naman Dhir (68 runs off 65 balls, with 6 fours and 3 sixes), guiding Punjab to victory.
For Goa, Koushik took 2 wickets, while Lalit Yadav and Shubham Tari claimed one wicket each.
After six matches, Goa are placed fifth in the group C` with 12 points. Goa will play their final league match against Maharashtra on January 8.
