Goa post thrilling victory

Electing to bat Goa made 200 for seven and then skittled out Andhra for 198 in a close finish.

Needing just four runs off the final over bowled by a part time off-spinner Dhiraj Narvekar, Andhra could make only one run before losing the last two wickets. Goa skipper Prashant Kokade8217;s gamble paid off in the end as he pressed Dhiraj Narvekar in to attack in the 46th over of Andhra8217;s innings. At that stage Andhra were 183 for six and needed 18 runs off the final four overs.

But the four big hitters 8212; KST Sai, Shahabuddin, Madhukar and dependable Watekar 8212; threw away their wickets to give Goa their first victory of the season.

Sensible Batting: Earlier, wicketkeeper-batsman Milind Chavan 50 and Vivek Kolambkar 43 steadied Goan innings after losing opener Ghodge for just four runs. They put on 88 runs for the second wicket with some sensible batting. After Chavan reached his 50, disaster struck the Goans as a quick throw from Sai at short extra cover found Chavan short of the crease.

Earler, Chavan had a reprieve on 37 when Shahabuddin failed to latch onto an easy catch at deep mid wicket. The unfortunate bowler was Watekar.

Another fruitful partnership of 56 runs for the sixth wicket between Dhananjay Patil and Saby Fernandes helped Goa reach 200.

Chasing a moderate target Andhra were off to a fine start. Skipper Amit Pathak 46 was in a good form smashing four bounderies in two overs and adding four more before holing out to Ghodge off Jakati at mid on.

Later Nagini Kumar 35 and RVC Prasad 37 departed trying to pace the innings.

Both the teams will play the four-day Ranji Trophy league match at the same venue from tomorrow.

Scoreboard

GOA: Milind Chavan run out 50 84b, 110m, 5215;4, Rajesh Ghodge lbw Madhukar 4 8b, 12m, 1215;4, Vivek Kolambkar c Prasada Reddy b Madhukar 43 92b, 125m, Rajesh Naik c Prasada Reddy b Watekar 9 20b, 18m, Dhiraj Narvekar run out 0 4b, 2m, Dhananjay Patil lbw Shahabuddin 31 30b, 52m, 3215;4, 1215;6, Saby Fernandes b Madhukar 31 66b, 56m, 1215;4, Shadab Jakati not out 4 6m, 6b, Mohd Ali not out 10 18m, 9b, Extras lb5, nb6, w7: 18.

Total for 7 wickets in 50 overs: 200.

Fall of wickets: 1-11 Ghodge, 2-99 Chavan, 3-117 Rajesh, 4-117 Narvekar, 5-122 Vivek, 6-178 Patil, 7-189 Fernandes.

Bowling: N Madhukar 10-0-44-3, Shahabuddin 10-1-35-1, Sai 2-0-4-0, Rammohan 8-0-46-0, Watekar 10-2-36-1, Srinivas 3-0-11-0, Venugopala Rao 7-1-19-0.

AP: LN Prasada Reddy c Shadab Jakati b R Naik 13 36b, 52m, 1215;4, Amit Pathak c Ghodge b Jakati 46 64m, 41b, 8215;4, V Nagini Kumar lbw Prashant 35 69b, 90m, 2215;4, Y Venugopala Rao b Fernandes 3 24m, 13b, RVS Prasad c amp; b Jakati 37 80m, 72b, 2215;4, I Srinivas b Prashant 7 33m, 16b, KST Sai run out 10 33m, 28b, 1215;4, H Watekar st Chavan b R Naik 5 29m, 18b, Shahabuddin lbw Narvekar 7 15m, 9b, N Madhukar b Narvekar 5 7m, 7b, VJT Rammohan not out 1 1m, 1b.

Extras b2, lb5, nb12, w 10: 29.

Total all out in 49.4 overs: 198.

Fall of wickets: 1-67 Prasada Reddy, 2-78 Pathak, 3-94 Venugopal, 4-136 Nagini, 5-165 RVC Prasad, 6-167 Srinivas, 7-185 Sai, 8-189 Watekar, 9-197 Madhukar.

Bowling: N Naik 3-0-22-0, Mohd Ali 7-0-43-0, Jakati 10-2-21-2, R Naik 10-1-28-2, Fernandes 4-0-18-1, Kakode 10-0-39-2, Narvekar 5.4-0-20-2.

Result: Goa won by two runs.