Ranji Trophy Elite Group-C
*Irfan, Milap ‘mantra’ works
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 21: Riding on a brilliant show by a quartet of Suryansh Raina, Umar Nazir, Auqib Nabi and Abdul Samad, Jammu & Kashmir, after conceding a first innings lead bounced back superbly to pull off a four-wicket win over Odisha on the third day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group ‘C’ match at Cuttack in Odisha today.
With this win, Jammu and Kashmir is topping the points table with 32 points, followed by Odisha with (28) and Haryana (21) after six outings. However, Jharkhand, who are well placed against Uttarakhand in the sixth match of this season, can take their tally to 22 points, if they register a win tomorrow.
Now, with three more matches to go before the last eight stage, Jammu and Kashmir is almost certain to make it to the quarterfinals.
The credit of this year’s brilliant show by J&K’s senior team in all three formats of Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy and the Ranji Trophy, unquestionably goes to the team mentor Irfan Pathan and the coach, Milap Mewada, who left no stone unturned in building the mental toughness among the players and infusing character and discipline among them, besides helping them to play as a cohesive unit.
Earlier, on day-3 today, resuming its second innings at 136 for seven, Odisha could add only 30 runs as speedster Umar Nazir picked up the last three wickets of Rajesh Mohanty, Suryakant Pradhan and Rajesh Dhuper.
Chasing 204 for a win, J&K opener Suryansh Raina (69) and Shubam Pundir (45) added 79 runs for the third wicket to lay the foundation for an easy win.
Abdul Samad with a knock of 30 not out and the first-innings bowling hero Aquib Nabi (26 not out) took the side to home.
For the hosts, Debabrata Pradhan bowled his heart out and picked up four wickets in the second innings but could not prevent J&K from romping home. Failure of experienced campaigner veteran Basant Mohanty in the second innings coupled with brilliant show by J&K youngsters played a pivotal role in J&K’s magnificent victory.
Brief Scores: Odisha 161 all out in 64.3 overs (Shubhranshu Senapati 42; Aquib Nabi 5/39) and 166 all out in 67.3 overs (Shantanu Mishra 26, Anurag Sarangi 26; Umar Nazir 5/72, Auqib Nabi 2/40) lost to J&K 124 all out in 45 overs (Shubham Khajuria 40; Basant Mohanty 4/42) and 205 for 6 in 65.3 overs (Suryansh Raina 69, SS Pundir 45, Abdul Samad 30 not out; DB Pradhan 4/48) by four wickets. J&K: 6 points, Odisha: 0.
The Jammu and Kashmir team is being accompanied by Milap Mewada (Coach), Aftab, Javaid Ahmed, Bilal Shamas, Ajaz Chiloo, Amit Bargotra, Sahil Magotra, Pritesh Joshi, Farhat and Syed Mujtaba.
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