SHOCKING COLLAPSE

Goa lose 8 wkts in 47 runs after 176 opening  partnership
TEAM HERALD
sports@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Just when Goa was beginning to look good in their Ranji engagement against Tripura at the Goa Cricket Association ground at Porvorim, with a fine century of 102 runs by Amog S Desai and a very useful contribution of 75 runs by captain Swapnil Asnodkar, striking a brilliant opening partnership of  176 runs for Goa, the unbelievable happened.
Goa  collapsed like a pack of cards losing 8 wickets within a span of  47 runs in the post tea period and finished the day with a total of  231 runs for 8 wickets to finish the first day’s play of the fifth round of the Ranji Trophy.
At stumps, Amit Yadav with three runs and Harshad Gadekar also with three runs to his credit will carry on Goa’s innings tomorrow.
In fact Swapnil Asnodkar was lucky to have survived earlier when he was bowled by Sanjay Maumdar, but the umpire called no ball.
After the 176-run opening stand between Desai (102) and Swapnil Asnodkar (75) was ended by Rana Dutta, the home team’s middle order collapsed.
Amog Desai 102 consisted 15 fours and one six while Sawpnil’s 75 runs consisted of seven fours.
Tripura coach Bhaskar Pillai told Herald that had the umpire not called no ball after Swapnil’s wicket fell earlier, Goa would have ended up with a much smaller score.
Pillai was all praise for his bowlers who maintained consistency.
“The new ball helped us after lunch and aided  the swing of seam bowlers Rana Datta and Sanjay Maumdar, who bowled well — leg and off,” Pillai said hoping to consolidate tomorrow on his bowlers good work.
Nuwan Zoysa, Goa’s  head coach was all praise for his opening batsmen, but was disappointed with the rest of the pack. “ I would say careless batting was Goa’s downfall after a good opening start. The middle order played unnecessary shots. The Tripura bowlers bowled very well. I hope Gadekar performs at least fifty per cent of what he performed against Maharashtra. It will be good for Goa,” Pillai told Herald.