Dharamshala: After forcing visitor Goa to follow-on, Himachal bowlers failed to take wicket at its home turf in the second inning and had to contempt with the points accrued from first inning lead.
Goa, who was once facing an inning defeat as team was trailing with 315 run, played sensibly and its openers Amogh Desai and Swapnil Asnodkar hit sparkling centuries and helped to stop Himachal from taking all seven points from the match.
Desai (126) and Asnodkar (109 not out) added an identical 100 runs today after resuming the day on 26 and nine respectively. The duo had a 238-run stand for the opening wicket as Goa ended the day at 282 for two in their second innings from 93 overs.
Himachal Pradesh, who had declared their first innings at 558 for five with the help of superb double century from experienced Paras Dogra, century from Bipul Sharma and important runs from the bats of Rishi Dhawan and Abhinav Bali had put Himachal into comfortable position and its bowlers especially Rishi Dhawan bowled well in the first inning and bundled Goa at 243 from 80.3 overs. However, its bowlers failed to get Goa’s wicket in the second inning and had to contempt with three points by virtue of taking the first innings lead while Goa got single point.
Brief Scorecard:
Himachal Pradesh 558 for five declares (Paras Dogra 209, Bipul Sharma 100, Rishi Dhawan 89 and Abhinav Bali 73) Shadab Jakati 2 for 141 in 31 over. Goa 243 (Ravikant Shukla 79, Rohan Belekar 54 and Jakati 52) Rishi Dhawan five for 68 in 25 over. Goa second inning 282 for 2 (Amogh Desai 126, Swapnil Asnodkar 109 not out), Bali and Mohinderraj Sharma got one each.
