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GATE 2026 ME – Question 1

General Aptitude · Verbal Aptitude: Grammar and Vocabulary · 1 mark · Multiple choice

'The team ______ more than 300 runs in 20 overs ___________ rains. However, some players needed to improve their batting skills.'

Choose the option with the correct sequence of words to fill the blanks.

  1. score; despite
  2. scoring; instead of
  3. scored; despite
  4. scoring; in spite of

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Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: (C) scored; despite

Explanation

The sentence reports a past event, so the first blank needs the past tense "scored". The second blank needs "despite", which means "even though there were", and it is followed by a noun ("rains"). "Scoring" would leave the sentence without a main verb, and "instead of" does not make sense here.