Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 23: A brilliant batting display by the duo of former Ranji Trophy skippers, Shubham Khajuria and Shubham Singh Pundir along with spinning all-rounder Abid Mushtaq kept J&K hopes alive in the match of the ongoing All India Buchi Babu Invitational Cricket Tournament against Delhi at Salem Cricket Foundation Ground, Tamil Nadu.
All the three batsmen showed serenity, composure, grit, guts and promise to help Jammu and Kashmir score a decent total of 285 runs in the second essay, thus setting a target of 156 runs for Delhi to chase in their second innings on the final day of the match tomorrow.
Earlier, resuming from an overnight score of 4/0, J&K lost two early wickets in the form of Abhinav Puri (07) and Vivrant Sharma (00) in the company of opener Shubham Khajuria, who was going great guns on the other end from the word go.
Shubham Khajuria was at his artistic best, scoring 80 runs off 133 balls, studded with 13 fours and one six, while Shubham Singh Pundir, who had scored patient 46 runs in the first innings, again contributed masterful 71 runs off 118 balls with 4 fours and 3 sixes. Abid Mushtaq, who scored 26 runs and took 7 wickets in the first innings, once again rose to the occasion and contributed unbeaten 36 runs off 111 balls with 4 delectable boundaries.
All three batsmen displayed solidity, fluidity and sublimity, who along with small contributions from Arya Thakur (21), Abdul Samad (18), Fazil Rashid (16) and Auqib Nabi (16) guided Jammu and Kashmir to a respectable total of 285 runs.
For Delhi, Himanshu Chauhan took 4 wickets by conceding 28 runs in his 9.1 overs, while Ayush Badoni and Sumit Mathur claimed 2 wickets each. Siddhant Sharma and Pranshu Vijayran took one wicket each.
With a day’s play left in the match, Delhi needs to chase a modest total of 156 runs, while J&K will desperately be looking for the spinners to do the trick by spinning a web around the rival batsmen on a wicket which might have the wear & tear on the last day.
The Jammu and Kashmir team is being accompanied by Hilal Zargar as Manager, P Krishan Kumar as Coach, Sunny Kumar as Strength & Conditioning Coach, Chirag Pandya as Physio and Sahil Magotra as Performance/Video Analyst.
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