Tripura’s victory in the Ranji trophy match against Goa is now a matter of time, unless something extra-ordinary things happen. The Tripura team is only 7 wickets away from scripting the first victory of the season on Monday.
In the Ranji Trophy cricket match held at the M. B. B. Stadium, Tripura is leading by 453 runs at the end of the third day. In response to Tripura’s 484 runs, the visiting team was in trouble and was tottering at 53 runs for 4 wickets at the end of the second day.
On Sunday, Tripura’s three fast bowlers Mani Shankar Murasing, Rana Datta and Abhijit Sarkar put pressure on the opponent. In the bowling of the trio, Goa lost its way and was bundled out for just 135 runs in 48.5 overs – after the 1st innings, Goa was trailing Tripura by 349 runs. If Dwipraj Goyankar in the middle order had not been able to put up a temporary resistance, Goa’s score would not have crossed the 100-run mark. Dwipraj scored the highest 41 runs with the help of 5 boundaries in 76 balls. Apart from Dwipraj, Goa’s skipper Darshan Mishal scored 14 runs with the help of 2 boundaries in 39 balls and Mohit Redkar scored 11 runs with the help of 2 boundaries in 21 balls.
Tripura’s Abhijit Sarkar took 4 wickets for 24 runs, Mani Shankar Murasing grabbed 3 wickets for 40 runs and Rana Dutta claimed 3 wickets for 41 runs.
When everyone present at the ground thought that Tripura would send Goa to follow-on after being 349 runs behind, the Tripura team management took the opposite path. With the aim of scoring quick runs so that they would not have to bat again in the fourth innings, Tripura came out to play and declared their innings after scoring 151/5 in 33.4 overs.
For Tripura, opener Bikram Kumar Das scored 45 runs with the help of 6 boundaries and 1 over boundary in 64 balls, Bishal Ghosh scored 33 runs with the help of 5 boundaries in 61 balls, Sridam Pal scored 32 (not out) with the help of 1 boundary and 1 over boundary in 31 balls, Sudip Chatterjee scored 18 runs with the help of 1 boundary and 1 over boundary in 15 balls and Rajat Dey scored 14 runs with the help of 2 boundaries in 25 balls.
For Goa, skipper Darshan Mishal claimed 3 wickets for 48 runs and Mohit Redkar got 2 wickets for 48 runs.
Taking on the target of 501 runs, Goa scored 48 runs for 3 wickets in 20 overs at the end of the third day. Except for wicket-keeper Siddharth K. V., the top-order batsmen of Goa could not stand up to the three pacers of Tripura. Siddharth remained unbeaten on 16 runs with the help of 2 boundaries in 43 balls.
For Tripura, Mani Shankar Murasing took 1 wicket for 5 runs, Rana Dutta claimed 1 wicket for 14 runs and Abhijit Sarkar took 1 wicket for 16 runs.
Goa is still behind of Tripura by 453 runs.