Despite early dismissal of Qamran Iqbal, Shubham Singh Pundir and Yewar Hassan put J&K in a commanding position in the face of valiant knocks from skipper Paras Dogra, Abdul Samad, Kanhaiya Wadhawan and Sahil Lotra, who together bring J&K to a position from where the victory seems visible.
Already crossed the magical 500 mark with score on board 527 runs with four wickets still intact in 156 overs of play at the end of day-two. High spirited J&K still have got the power in the tailenders, Aquib Nabi and Yudhvir Singh to take the score to new heights.
Sahil Lotra (57) and Abid Mushtaq (20) were at the crease when rains halted the play and the umpires decided to call it a day due to bad light with a deficit of 24 overs in first two days of play. Batting confidently, both these young cricketers, have already added 56 runs for the seventh wicket stand.
Since the winners of the Ranji Trophy could be decided on the basis of first innings lead, in the case of a drawn game, first timers in the title clash, J&K look better placed to take the glittering silver trophy home for the first time ever.
The day-two witnessed three crucial partnerships of over hundred runs for J&K with highest being 139 between Shubham Singh Pundir and Yewar Hassan for the second wicket.
Earlier, Shubham (121) and Abdul Samad (61), who resumed the day’s play from overnight score of 284 for two, could not do well in the light of some tight bowling spells from India bowler, Prasidh Krishna with the results, soon J&K were at 307 for four.
Then came inform Kanhaiya Wadhawan and skipper, Paras Dogra (retired hurt yesterday), who, though took time to settle down, played brilliant cricket virtually taking the all important game away from eight-time champion, Karnataka to a position from where the win seem quite visible. Kanhaiya and Dogra together added 110 runs for the fifth wicket stand.
Earlier, during the day, out of frustration, K V Aneesh of Karnataka argued with J&K skipper, Paras Dogra, which attracted the attention of the umpires, who intervened to sorted out the matter. However, Paras brought the matter to the notice of Karnataka skipper, Devdutt Padikkal.
From Karnataka, Prasidh was the most successful among the bowlers, who took three wickets for 90 runs in 29 overs. Vidyadhar Patil, Shreyas Gopal and Shikhar Shetty shared apiece each.
SCORECARD
J&K Ist Innings
Qamran Iqbal c K L Rahul b M Prasidh 06
Yewer Hassan c K L Rahul b M Prasidh 88
Shubham Pundir c Aneesh b Vidhyadhar Patil 121
P K Dogra (c) b Shreyas Gopal 70
Abdul Samad c Kruthik Krishna b M Prasidh 61
Kanhaiya Wadhawan (wk) c KL Rahul b Shikhar 70
Sahil Lotra not out 57
Abid Mushtaq not out 20
Total 527 for six in 156 overs.
Extras: (Nb 0, W 4, B-14, Lb 16) 34
Fall of Wickets: 18-1,157-2, 303-3, 307-4, 417-5, 471-6
Yet to bat: Auqib Nabi, Yudhvir Singh, Sunil Kumar
Bowling Analysis:Vidyadhar Patil 29-2-104-1; V Vyshak 31-10-60-0; M Prasidh 29-7-90-3; Shreyas Gopal 33-2-130-1; Shikhar Shetty 32-1-112-1; Karun Nair 2-1-1-0.
Caption: J&K skipper,Paras Dogra in conversation with KV Aneesh of Karnataka after later entered into an argument on day-two of the Ranji trophy final at KSCA Stadium in Hubli,Karnataka.
=====