The Goliaths from Gujarat had Goa’s Davids firmly on the mat even before the halfway stage of their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal at the Sardar Vallabhai Patel stadium here on Friday.
Despite losing set overnight batsmen early on, Gujarat’s lower order joined the run feast before it declared halfway into the last session of Day Two at a gargantuan 602 for eight. Smit Patel and captain Amit Verma — who survived a close lbw shout off Roosh Kalaria — then avoided a collapse for Goa, which was in dire straits at two down without scoring. If Goa has to even think of making a match of it, the duo will have to dig deeper than the 46-run association they stitched together to see the day off.
Tired legs
Kalaria and Chintan Gaja struck in their first overs, thanks to the Goa openers’ tired legs — they were made to field for a whopping 162 overs. While Sumiran Amonkar lobbed the second ball of the innings back to left-arm pacer Kalaria, Vaibhav Govekar edged Gaja to Priyank Panchal in the cordon.
More than their bright effort with the ball, it was Kalaria and Gaja’s sterling batting effort against a largely hapless Goa bowling attack that may have sealed the deal for Gujarat. Thanks to Felix Alemao’s impressive spell with the second new ball, Gujarat lost both overnight batsmen in the first half hour. While Chirag Gandhi (49, 86b, 8x4) was plumb in front to Alemao after cracking two fours off Lakshay Garg in the opening over of the day, captain Parthiv Patel (124, 172b, 16x4) holed out to long-leg off Alemao’s perfect bouncer.
Hardly troubled
Kalaria then joined Axar Patel at the crease with the duo stitching together a 130-run partnership before the latter perished after lunch to give Alemao a deserved third wicket. In came Gaja and the pair batted without any trouble against the softer ball. So effortless did they appear at the crease that their 116-run partnership came without a single chance being offered. By the time Gaja holed out in the deep, Kalaria had notched up his third First Class ton, his personal best, and Gujarat had crossed the 600-run mark.
The scores: Gujarat — 1st innings: Samit Gohel c Kauthankar b Misal 52, Priyank Panchal c Amonkar b Vijesh 28, Bhargav Merai c Misal b Verma 84, Parthiv Patel c Garg b Alemao 124, Manprit Juneja lbw b Verma 1, Chirag Gandhi lbw b Alemao 49, Axar Patel c Kauthankar b Alemao 80, Roosh Kalaria (not out) 118, Chintan Gaja c Suyash b Amonkar 56; Extras (lb-2, nb-6, w-2): 10; Total (for 8 wkts. decl., in 161.3 overs): 602.
Fall of wickets: 1-64, 2-107, 3-246, 4-248, 5-339, 6-356, 7-486, 8-602.
Goa bowling: Garg 25-4-77-0, Vijesh 18-4-78-1, Alemao 28-6-86-3, Misal 35-2-110-1, Suyash 3-1-17-0, Pandrekar 20-3-77-0, Verma 29-2-133-2, Amonkar 3.3-0-22-1.
Goa — 1st innings: Sumiran Amonkar c & b Kalaria 0, Vaibhav Govekar c Panchal b Gaja 0, Smit Patel (batting) 15, Amit Verma (batting) 31; Total (for two wkts., in 16 overs): 46.
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-0.
Gujarat bowling: Kalaria 4-2-17-1, Gaja 2-2-0-1, Axar 6-2-15-0, Nagwaswalla 3-1-13-0, Desai 1-0-1-0.
