Aditya Kaushik's unbeaten half-century and spinner Amit Yadav's superb performance helped Goa beat Puducherry by nine runs in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 on Friday.
The match was played at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium in Lucknow.
Goa won the toss and elected to bat first. Opener Ishaan Gadekar was dismissed at 15 runs in the second over. Then Lakshya Garg and Aditya Kaushik shared a 41-run stand for the second wicket to steady the ship.
After scoring an entertaining 28 run, Garg was dismissed in the eighth over. Soon Goa lost another wicket as skipper Eknath Kerkar was run out for the score of 11. Aditya and Shubham Ranjane (29) put on an unbeaten 71 for the fourth wicket to take Goa past the half-century mark. Aditya hit an unbeaten 69 off 58 balls with seven fours and two sixes.
In the second innings, Amit Yadav bowled his heart out as he returned to domestic cricket after a four-year injury led hiatus. Yadav dismissed the Puducherry top three in his first two overs and just gave 16 runs in his four overs. Left-arm pacer Shrikant Wagh also took three wickets but was expensive, giving 38 runs in the innings. Throughout the match, Goa was in control but Veteran Paras Dogra and Pawan Deshpande’s 82-run stand for the fifth wicket kept Puducherry in the game.
In the end, Puducherry lost the match by nine runs as Paras Dogra finished with a score of 84 runs in 57 balls.
