Jammu and Kashmir have a mountain to climb as they trail Goa by 222 runs at stumps on day 3 of their Elite Group C Ranji Trophy game here Wednesday.
Asked to bat first, Goa rode on a century by opener Snehal Kauthankar (130) to post a mammoth 468/9 (declared) in their first innings.
Kauthankar, batting at his over-night score of 106, added another 24 runs to his tally and remained unbeaten.
He laced his knock with 24 boundaries.
Jammu and Kashmir had an uphill task to gain a first-innings lead, but they slumped to 246/7 at stumps on the penultimate day of the four-day game.
For J&K, their opener Shubham Khajuria (53) struck a half-century, but three other top-order batsmen, Ahmad Omar Bandey (25), Ian Chauhan (37) and Paras Sharma (22), failed to convert their starts into big scores.
But all-rounder and skipper Irfan Pathan, who came in at number 7, remained unbeaten on 42 and will look to hold the fort on the last day.
Left-handed Pathan has company of Amir Aziz (22 batting) but with just three wickets remaining Goa are looking poised to take the first innings lead.
For Goa, Lakshay Garg (2-77) and Amogh Desai (2-23) picked two wickets each.
Brief Scores: At Porvorim: Goa 468/9 Declared (Snehal Kauthankar 130 not out, Sumiran Amonkar 73, Irfan Pathan 3-69) versus Jammu and Kashmir 246/7 (Shubham Khajuria 53, Irfan Pathan 42 batting, Amogh Desai 2-23).
Jammu and Kashmir trail by 222 runs.
At Bhubaneswar: Odisha 256 and 180/7 (Sandeep Pattnaik 46, Shivam Mavi 3-43) versus Uttar Pradesh 437 all out (Aksh Deep Nath 159, Basant Mohanty 6-62).
Odisha trail by 1 run.
At Agartala: Assam 327 and 239/6 Declared (Riyan Parag 80) versus Tripura 139 and 68/4 (S K Patel 20, Ranjeet Mali 2-30).
Tripura need 360 runs to win.
At Jaipur: Services 228 and 264 (Rahul Singh Gahlaut 107) against Rajasthan 136 and 95/0 (A V Gautam 53 batting, Chetan Bist 39 batting). Rajasthan need 262 runs to win.
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