PANAJI
Goa suffered their first defeat in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament as they were beaten by Hyderabad by 37 runs in their third Group B encounter at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Friday.
Arjun Tendulkar produced his best performance for Goa with figures of 4-10 but Hyderabad managed to post a strong total of 177/6 on the back of half-centuries from captain Tanmay Agarwal (55) and Tilak Varma (62 off 46). It was Varma’s third consecutive half-century in as many matches. Barring Arjun, rest of the Goa bowlers leaked runs with key bowlers Lakshay Garg (0-49 off 4 overs) and Felix Alemao (0-30 off 2 overs) going for plenty.
Goa began their chase well despite losing opener Snehal Kauthankar (12) cheaply. The other opener Aditya Kaushik (33 off 22 balls) and one-down Tunish Sawkar (23 off 21 balls) combined well in the powerplay. However Goa suffered twin blows in the eight over delivered by Aniketh Reddy, who removed Kaushik and Goa's batting mainstay Siddhesh Lad (0) in a span of four deliveries to be reduced to 70-3. Ravi Teja then bowled Darshan Misal (1) while Mickil Jaiswal got rid of Sawkar to reduce Goa to 82/5. With the asking rate rising the Goan batters were forced to play risky cricket and lost wickets quickly in the bargain as they were bowled out in the 19th over, folding for 140.
All-rounder Ravi Teja ended with four wickets (4/20) while debutant Aniketh Reddy (2/19) also struck vital blows to deliver the win for Hyderabad.
With their first loss, Goa slipped to third in the points table with eight points, behind Punjab and Delhi, who also have eight points but a better run rate. Hyderabad also reached eight points and are fourth in the eight-team group.
Scores: Hyderabad, 177-6 in 20 overs (Tanmay Agarwal 55, Tilak Verma 61, Arjun Tendular 4-10, Darshan Misal 1-23) beat Goa, 140 in 18.5 overs (Snehal Kauthankar 12, Aditya Kaushik 33, Tunish Sawkar 23, Eknath Kerkar 19; T Ravi Teja 4-20, G Aniket Reddy 2-19) by 37 runs.
