J&K had a flying start in the Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy with a crushing nine wicket win against Nagaland in the match played at Chukkapalli Pitchaiah Cricket Ground, Mulapadu, Andhra Pradesh on Thursday.
Set a target of 136 runs to win in allotted 20 overs by Nagaland, J&K achieved the total in 15.5 overs for the loss of only one wicket. It was dominant batting show by openers Abdul Samad who made unbeaten 76 and Jatin Wadhwan who scored 62 that lead J&K to the big win.
Earlier after winning the toss, J&K skipper Parvez Rasool opted to field first. The decision proved right as J&K bowlers restricted Nagaland to a total of 135 runs in allotted 20 overs for the loss of six wickets. It was Irfan Pathan who gave J&K early breakthrough by removing Nagaland opener Rohit in very first over. In the next over, debutant Mujtaba Yusuf gave J&K second wicket by removing Sedezhalie. Nagaland lost two wickets on the same score of four runs. Nitish and R Jonathan tried to form a stand and were able to put 33 together. Another debutant who is an all-rounder, Abdul Samad, removed Nitesh on the score of 37. Nitish scored 13. After that Pawan KB came in the middle and he formed small but valuable partnerships first with Nitish and then the next incoming batsman. Jonathan was fourth wicket to fall in Nagaland inning. He was removed by Parvez Rasool, making 31 runs before getting out. Parvez Rasool then got his second and team’s fifth wicket by removing Abrar Kazi who made 13. At that point Nagaland were on 101 runs for the loss of five wickets in 16.5 overs. Then the duo of Pawan KB and Imliwati added some quick runs to the total in last three overs to take Nagaland to 136 runs in 20 overs. Imliwati got run out after scoring 17 from 11. Pawan KB remained unbeaten for 53 runs from 37 balls in which he hit three sixes and three fours.
For J&K, Parvez took two wickets while as Irfan Pathan, Mujtaba Yusuf and Abdul Samad took one wicket each.
In reply, J&K achieved target easily with openers Abdul Samad and Jatin Wadhwan putting on 126 run partnership for the first wicket. The two young openers of J&K gave no chance to opposition bowlers. Both openers were in excellent touch scoring freely and handing J&K easy win. The only wicket that fell in J&K inning was of Jatin Wadhwan who scored 62 runs from 40 balls in which he hit seven boundaries and two sixes. Abdul Samad remained not out on 76 from 51 balls. It was debut match for the young all-rounder and he hit eight boundaries and three sixes during his stay in the middle. He had also taken one wicket.
With this nine wicket win J&K bagged four points from the match. They will next play against Jharkhand on Friday.