Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 18: The talented middle-order batter Abdul Samad has slammed a power-packed 71-ball century to guide Jammu and Kashmir gain a vital first innings lead against formidable Madhya Pradesh in the ongoing Ranji Trophy Group-D match at International Holkar Stadium, Indore today.
This was Samad’s fourth First Class hundred as he has hit a century each against Assam at Jammu in 67 balls, Jharkhand at Ranchi in 63 balls and against Meghalaya in 68 balls. He is always an impact player and his explosive instinct, at any point of time can change the complexion of the game.
Anyway, resuming from an overnight score of 43/3, J&K lost three early wickets today to make it 61/6 in 28.1 overs, before Samad started butchering the rival bowlers, making a partnership of 103 runs with Sahil Lotra (38) and a partnership of 74 runs with Abid Mushtaq (35) to finally take Jammu and Kashmir to a good total of 242 runs, thus gaining a vital first innings lead of 42 runs.
Samad showed stellar grit and tenacity to notch up a power-packed century, scoring fiery 103 off 74 balls, studded with 6 massive sixes and an equal number of fours, while Lotra hit 4 boundaries in his 81-ball knock and Abid smashed 4 fours and 2 sixes in his 36-ball knock. Aqib Nabi (18) and Musaif Ajaz (16) were dismissed early today.
For Madhya Pradesh, Kulwant Khejroliya was the pick of the bowlers, who captured 4 wickets by conceding 63 runs in 16.4 overs, while Saransh Jain bagged 3 wickets in his 8 overs by giving away 35 runs. Avesh Khan also claimed one wicket. In reply, Madhya Pradesh were 92/1 in 39 overs in their second essay at stumps on day-2 today.
Yash Dubey (57) and Harsh Gawali (10) were at the crease. Yash scored a brilliant half-century, smashing 57 runs off 140 balls with 5 boundaries, while Harsh contributed sedate 10. Abid Mushtaq was the only successful bowler from J&K, who claimed the lone wicket to fall.
“Well played Abdul Samad. With a splendid match saving century you have proved that the form is temporary but the class is permanent. Carry on from here and lead the team to a win against the table topper MP. My kudos to the bowlers for bowling out MP for 200 in the first innings,” Brigadier Anil Gupta, Member-Administration JKCA said on X.
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