Debutant and opener S. Lokeshwar struck his maiden fifty (52, 129b, 6x4) and Pradosh Ranjan Paul followed up his first-innings 71 with another fine fifty (65, 125b, 6x4) as Tamil Nadu, chasing 137, cruised to a seven-wicket win over Goa on day four of the elite Group-C match in the fifth round of the Ranji Trophy at the Goa Cricket Association (GCA) Academy ground in Porvorim on February 5.
This is Tamil Nadu’s third consecutive win and it retains the top spot in Group-C with 21 points and superior run quotient over Karnataka (21).
Vijay Shankar hit the winning shot, a six off the medium-pace of Suyash Prabhudessai over the long off boundary.
Earlier, Lokeshwar was dropped on his overnight score of 34 by Manthan Khutkar at silly point off left-arm spinner Darshan Misal on the second ball of the day. Misal later had him leg before.
The diminutive opener remarkably scooped off-spinner Mohit Redkar to the fine leg boundary.
Pradosh hit three consecutive fours off medium-pacer Deepraj Gaonkar. He charged and lofted the ball to the cow corner boundary, ramped it to the fine leg boundary, and flicked off his pads to the square boundary.
He edged his drive to be caught by Misal at first slip off Prabhudessai.
Pradosh and Lokeshwar added 96 runs for the second-wicket partnership.
Pradosh was adjudged the player-of-the-match for his two fifties (71 and 65) and two wickets (two for 18). In a nice gesture, he gave away his award to the debutant Lokeshwar.
The scores:
Goa - 1st innings: 241.
Tamil Nadu - 1st innings: 273.
Goa - 2nd innings: 168.
Tamil Nadu - 2nd innings: S. Lokeshwar lbw b Misal 52, N. Jagadeesan b Misal 4, Pradosh Ranjan Paul c Misal b Prabhudessai 65, Baba Indrajith (not out) 7, Vijay Shankar (not out) 13; Extras (b-1): 1; Total (for 3 wickets in 49.5 overs): 142.
Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-109, 3-128.
Goa bowling: Misal 24-6-51-2, Arjun 2-0-5-0, Redkar 20-2-55-0, Gaonkar 1-0-14-0, Prabhudessai 2.5-0-16-1.
