Vidarbha pacers Yash Thakur and Aditya Thakare bowled splendidly to restrict Goa to 156 for 6 in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Twenty20 Cricket tournament at the Emerald High School ground in Indore on Tuesday.
In the fifth and last league outing of the Elite Group D, Vidarbha started off brilliantly and had Goa on the mat initially.
Opting to bat, Goa were struggling at 23 for the loss of top three batsmen and it looked Vidarbha would wrap up them quite quickly.
However, Vidarbha let Goa off the hook as they bounced back gallantly to post a challenging total of 156-6 in their stipulated 20 overs.
The hero for Goa turned out to be their captain Amit Verma. The Goan skipper not only won the toss but also led from the front when his team needed it the most.
The young Goa skipper smashed an unbeaten 72 off just 46 balls to bail out his side. Verma hammered eight fours and three sixes to frustrate Vidarbha.
Verma got solid support from Snehal Kauthankar (35: 30b, 1×4, 2×6) and Darshan Misal (13 not out: 6b, 1×4, 1×6).
All the three Vidarbha speedsters bowled superbly. Yash Thakur was the pick of the bowler with 3 for 36. Aditya Thakare was very economical and conceded just 18 runs from his four overs and bagged a couple of wickets. Find of the tourney Darshan Nalkande picked up a wicket.
Vidarbha spinners including their stand-in captain Akshay Wakhare failed to make any inroads into the opposition batting line-up.
After four straight defeats, Vidarbha are aiming for their elusive win in their last encounter.
Brief scores
Goa 156 for 6 in 20 overs (Amit Verma 72 not out, Snehal Kauthankar 35, Darshan Misal 13 not out, Amogh Desai 12; Yash Thakur 3-36, Aditya Thakare 2-18, Darshan Nalkande 1-41) vs Vidarbha.
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