A hard-hitting knock by Abdul Samad followed by composed innings from Shubham Khajuria and Shubham Pundir led J&K to hard fought three wicket win against Services in the match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy tournament at JU Second Campus, Salt Lake, Kolkata on Tuesday.
Chasing a target of 274 runs, Shubham Pundir made it sure to stay till end and guide J&K to a three wicket win in 48.3 overs. Pundir remained not out on 58 run knock. Earlier, for J&K Samad smashed 63 runs from mere 38 balls. Shubham then anchored the inning by scoring 84 run knock.
J&K won the toss and opted to field first. The team made couple of changes bringing in Bandeep Singh and Auquib Nabi in place of Nasir Lone and Ram Dayal.
Pacer Umar Nazir gave J&K an excellent start by getting wicket of Services opener Nakul Verma in first over and following that with wicket of Rahul Singh in third over.
Ravi Chauhan and skipper Rajat Paliwal steadied ship for Services taking score to 98 runs in 25 overs . It was Vivrant Sharma who gave J&K breakthrough by removing Paliwal who scored 33.
Ravi stood strong at the other end, forming another fifty plus stand with Mohit Ahlawal. The duo took score to 156 runs in 34 overs.
Abid Mushtaq inflicted run out to send back Mohit and then Parvez Rasool removed next in batsman Nakul for a naught. It left Services inning reeling on 158 runs in 36 overs and looked like they will fall well short of a 209 run mark.
However , Ravi Chauhan followed cameos played by Pulkit Narang and DG Pathania took Services score to 274 runs in allotted 50 overs for the loss of seven wickets .
Ravi Chauhan scored brilliant century of 118 runs while as Pulkit scored 48 from 4. Pathania scored 42 from 21 only.
For J&K Umar Nazir took two wicket while as Parvez, Vivrant and Auquib Nabi took one wicket each.
In reply, J&K got off to flying start with openers Vivrant and Suryansh Raina 36 runs from first five overs. J&K lost first wicket in sixth over in shape of Suryansh and was then followed by Vivrant in eight over. It reduced J&K to 43 runs with two wickets down in chase of 274 run target .
In middle Shubham was joined by Samad. While Khajuria held on to his end, Samad punished Services bowlers by hitting them all over the park. J&K reached to 100 run mark in 15.2 overs. They lost third wicket in shape of Abdul Samad in 18th over.
He scored 63 from 38 balls. The next in batsman Parvez Rasool got out after scoring only six runs leaving J&K in trouble . Khajuria then formed another stand with Pundir to take J&K total past 200 mark .Khajuria was out after scoring 84 runs from 91 balls with J&K score on 213 runs. J&K then lost two back to back wickets of Auquib Nabi and Bandeep Singh leaving J&K inning in trouble with score on 233 runs for seven in 40.1 overs.
Pundir stood strong in the middle and was well supported by Abid Mushtaq to take J&K home in 48.3 overs . Pundir remained not out on 56 from 84 balls while as Abid remained unbeaten on 16 from 18. For Services, Pulkit took two wickets while as Pathania, Varun and Rahul took one wicket each.
J&K won match by three wickets and bagged four points from the match.
It was second match played by J&K in the tournament. They have registered win in one and defeat in one. J&K will next take on Haryana on February at famed Eden Gardens.