Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 16: Following his teammate and wrecker-in-chief in the first innings Raushan Raj, leg-spinner Muzzaffaruddin Khalid scalped 7 important wickets to help Services thrash Jammu and Kashmir by 9 wickets and grab six points in their Group-C Ranji Trophy Cricket Tournament at GGM Science College Hostel ground, here today.
Resuming their first innings from 152/4, Services were all out for 229 runs in 66.4 overs, taking a lead of 144 runs. Overnight unbeaten batsmen Yashpal Singh and Sufiyan Alam contributed valuable 66 and 29 runs respectively.
For J&K, Rohit Sharma and Umar Nazir took four-wicket hauls to help their team to restrict the opposition to 229 runs. Ramdayal also took 2 important wickets for J&K.
In their second essay, the hosts though rode on a splendid knock of 51 runs by opener Shubham Khajuria, yet found the going tough once again and were dismissed by Services for 161 runs in 53.5 overs, leaving the visitors with a victory target of just 18 runs. Apart from Khajuria, Parvez Rasool contributed power-packed 32 runs with two massive sixes and 3 crispy boundaries and wicketkeeper batsman, Samad Bhat scored 25 runs off 38 balls, including 2 boundaries. Shubham, in particular, was in awesome touch, hitting 10 delectable boundaries with fluidity and grace. A back-foot punch, a cover drive and a straight drive were really a delight to watch. Ian Dev Singh and Bandeep Singh chipped in with 20 and 13 runs respectively.
Services then returned to overhaul the 18-run target losing just one wicket.
S Chatterjee and Ravi Chauhan were at the crease with unbeaten 10 and unbeaten one run respectively, while opener Anshul Gupta was trapped by speedster Rohit Sharma at his individual score of 3 runs.
While Khalid’s seven for 61 brought the downfall of J&K, DG Pathania (1/44) and RR Raj (1/25) also contributed by snapping one wicket each.
Brief Score: Jammu & Kashmir: 85 & 161 allout in 53.5 overs (SP Khajuria 51; M Khalid 7/61)
Services 229 & 18/1 (3.3 overs)
Services: Services 229 allout in 66.4 overs (Y Singh 66; R Sharma 4/55) & 18/1 in 3.3 overs (S Chatterjee 10 not out; R Sharma 1/1).
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