PANAJI
Goa suffered a narrow defeat at the hands of Madhya Pradesh by three wickets in their Ranji Trophy Group B encounter at the GCA Academy Ground in Porvorim.
Despite entering the final day with hopes of dismissing the visitors by taking the remaining nine wickets, Goa could only manage to take six, as Madhya Pradesh successfully chased down a 328-run target in 94 overs, finishing at 7 for 328.
Resuming their innings at 21 for 1 on the fourth and final day, Madhya Pradesh's openers Harsh Gawali (54) and captain Himanshu Mantri (22) extended the total to 49 before Arjun Tendulkar dismissed Mantri to provide Goa their first breakthrough of the day. Gawali then partnered with Shubham Sharma (72) to take the score past 100, adding 57 runs for the third wicket. Shortly after reaching his half-century, Gawali fell to left-arm spinner Darshan Misal.
Shubham Sharma continued to consolidate the innings, adding 70 runs for the fourth wicket with Harpreet Singh Bhatia (35) to put Goa under pressure. Off-spinner Lalit Yadav broke the stand by having Harpreet caught by Deepraj, reducing Madhya Pradesh to 176 for 4. Yadav then struck again, dismissing the well-set Sharma, who was caught by Deepraj, giving Goa their fifth success. Madhya Pradesh, however, kept fighting back as Rishabh Chauhan and Aryan Pandey fell later in the chase, leaving the visitors at 263 for 7 still needing 65 runs for victory.
At that stage, Saransh Jain (unbeaten on 82) and Arshad Khan (unbeaten on 25) steadied the innings with a match-winning unbroken partnership, guiding Madhya Pradesh to victory.
Goa's bowlers, who had impressed in the first innings, failed to replicate their performance in the second. Lalit Yadav and Darshan Misal claimed two wickets each, while Arjun Tendulkar, V. Koushik, and Mohit Redkar picked up one apiece.
With this defeat, Goa slipped to third place in the Group B standings. After four matches, they have recorded one win, one loss, and two draws, maintaining a steady 11 points. Goa will next face Saurashtra from November 16 at the Niranjan Shah Stadium Ground C in Rajkot.
BRIEF SCORE: Goa: 284 and 230 all lost to Madhya Pradesh 187 and 328 for 7 in 94 overs (Saransh Jain 82 not out, Shubham Sharma 72, Harsh Gawli 54; Darshan Misal 2/57) by three wickets.
