It was a day when Goa lower-middle order put on a gritty show to scare hosts Jharkhand to cross their first innings total of 386 but in the end veteran of many battles Shahbaz Nadeem led the hosts' bowling attack to stop the visitors 24 runs away in their Ranji Trophy Elite Group C tie at Keenan Stadium in Jamshedpur on Thursday.
Folding the Goa first innings on 362 when the stumps were drawn on Day 3, Jharkhand, pointless after losing the opener against Kerala, secured the first-innings lead to ensure at least three points from the match barring any exciting finish on the last day.
Nadeem was the wrecker-in-chief on Day 3, scalping three wickets, as he returned with innings figure of 4 for 86 runs from his 41 overs. Utkarsh Singh, who gave the hosts first breakthrough of the day, was the pick of the Jharkhand bowlers as he finished with 4 for 71 runs in his 29 overs.
For the visitors, wicketkeeper-batter Eknath Kerkar (73 off 145 balls) and captain Darshan Misal (71 off 164) combined to put on 104 runs for the seventh wicket — their highest stand — in 30 overs to raise Goa's hope of taking the lead but once the former departed after losing his stumps to Nadeem, their chances looked grim.
However, the tail wagged as No. 9 Mohit Redkar joined hands with his skipper to put on 65 runs for the eight wicket and No. 11 Lakshya Garg played his shots to score 20 off 24 ball before edging medium pacer Sushant Mishra behind the stumps to Kumar Kushagra which brought an end to their innings.
Brief Scores: Jharkhand 386. Goa 362 in 134.3 overs (E Kerkar 73, D Misal 71; Utkarsh 4/71, S Nadeem 4/86). Match to continue.
