Ranji Trophy QFs Round-Up
New Delhi, Feb 8: The opening day of the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals saw a dominant display of bowling across four matches on Saturday. Kerala pacer MD Nidheesh bagged a five-wicket haul to restrict Jammu & Kashmir to 228/8 at stumps at the MCA Stadium in Pune.
Kerala won the toss and invited J&K to bat first. The batting side had a poor start as Nidheesh removed the top three in the opening session to leave the side reeling at 48/3.
However, Kanhaiya Wadhawan first stitched a brief 19-run partnership with captain Paras Dogra, who was removed by Basil Thampi, before adding a 55-run stand with Sahil Lotra. Wadhawan departed after scoring 48 as Nidheesh got his fourth wicket of the day.Lotra and Lone Nasir steered J&K’s innings further and took them to over 150-run mark.
The former played a gritty knock of 35 off 125 balls before losing his wicket to Aditya Sarwate. In the final session of the day, Nidheesh completed his five-wicket haul with the scalp of Nasir, who made a vital contribution of 44 in the late middle order. Abid Mushtaq also made a crucial 19-run addition to the scoreboard before he became a victim of Thampi.
In the other quarterfinal clash between defending champions Mumbai and Haryana at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, Shams Mulani’s counter-attacking 91 overshadowed pacer Anshul Kamboj’s 3-58. (PTI)
