PANAJI
The writing was pretty much on the wall at the start of day 4, with only a miracle halting the Tamil Nadu juggernaut. Goa were inflicted a successive heavy defeat at home losing by 7 wickets against Tamil Nadu in a fifth round Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match at the GCA Academy Ground in Porvorim on Monday.
Former India star and seasoned campaigner, Vijay Shankar (13*) sealed the deal hoisting part-timer Suyash Prabhudessai for a mighty six over long off, as Tamil Nadu knocked off the 76 runs required on the final day within 86 minutes of the morning session losing only two additional wickets.
Earlier in the morning, the visitors resuming at 62-1 looked largely untroubled at whatever was thrown at them. But Goa did have their odd moment for a breakthrough. On the second delivery of the day, debutant opener S Lokeshwar (on 34) survived off Slow Left arm Orthodox, Darshan Misal. Manthan Khutkar at silly point failed to latch on on a stiff chance. That incident apart, the Goa spin twins in Misal and Right arm Offbreak Mohit Redkar bowling in tandem looked ineffective as the growing in confidence debutant, S Lokeshwar and the talented Pradosh Ranjan Paul realised a fuss-free 96-run second wicket stand.
Goa even tried to swap the bowling ends of their slow bowling duo but to no avail, when much needed. In between, Right arm Medium Deepraj Gaonkar was thrust with the responsibility of bowling the 36th over of the innings to effect the change of ends. But the 23-year-old southpaw, Pradosh responded with delectable stroke play. Until that point he was on 31 without a boundary. In that over, he struck three successive boundaries with a touch of disdain and elegance too as the visitors accelerated their march to the smallish 137-run target. He first charged the bowler with a lofted shot towards the cow corner boundary, then played a cheeky ramp shot and turned to play a flick off his legs to the square boundary.
In the ensuing over, S Lokeshwar who slugged it out reached his maiden First Class fifty with a single played towards point off Redkar. His partner, Pradosh followed suit shortly after, with an easy single off Misal. With the score 105/1 and both the Tamil Nadu batsmen in their fifties, Pradosh who had just completed his fifth First Class half century survived a run out appeal at the non striker's end. S Lokeshwar who played a shot towards deep mid wicket had his eye on a third run, and a lurking Heramb Parab swung the ball at the non-striker's end with Pradosh taking a full stretch to make good his ground.
Against the run of play, both the in batsmen were dismissed. S Lokeshwar was first to go for a gritty 52 (129b, 6x4) claimed leg before by Misal. Few overs later, Pradosh lost his wicket for a well-made 65 (125b, 6x4) taken by Misal at first slip off the gentle medium pace of Suyash Prabhudessai. The job was pretty much done by then at 128-3. Vijay Shankar (13*) sealed the issue in grandeur with a mighty heave off Suyash for a maximum, as he walked off with a disarming smile in company of Baba Indrajith unbeaten on 7.
Pradosh Ranjan Paul (Tamil Nadu) was later declared the Player Of The Match for his all-round brilliance. While Goa travel to Surat to take on Railways in a crucial encounter from February 9, Tamil Nadu return home for a top-of-the-table clash against Karnataka in their penultimate league match at MAC Stadium, Chennai.
BRIEF SCORE
> Goa, 1st innings. 241 in 75.5 overs (Suyash Prabhudessai 104, K V Siddharth 69; Sai Kishore 4-73, Ajith Ram 3-46) & 2nd innings. 168 in 65.5 overs (Suyash Prabhudessai 79; Ajith Ram 4-36, Sai Kishore 4-82) vs Tamil Nadu, 1st innings. 273 in 90.2 overs (N Jagadeesan 75, Pradosh Ranjan Paul 71, Vijay Shankar 54; Mohit Redkar 5-70, Darshan Misal 4-77) & 2nd innings. 142-3 in 49.5 overs (Pradosh Ranjan Paul 65, S Lokeshwar 52; Darshan Misal 2-51) Tamil Nadu win by 7 wickets
