Srinagar: J&K senior cricket team batting once again failed as they suffered another inning defeat in the ongoing Ranji Trophy tournament against Railways at Lalbhai Contractor Stadium, Surat on Thursday.
Following on J&K’s batting failed in the second inning also as the whole team got all out for 193 run total on the third day of the play, handing Railways innings and 73 runs win.
It is the third big defeat for J&K in this season’s Ranji Trophy tournament out of four matches played. They have been able to win only one match so far, and that was against Vidarbha.
Earlier third days play started from J&K resuming their second innings from 5/0, trailing Railways’ first inning total by 261 runs. The whole side got bundled out for 193 run total.
Fazil Rashid with 53 was the highest scorer for J&K while Auqib Nabi scored 31. Vivrant Sharma who was brought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for 2.60 crores recently scored 29. From the Railways side, Aakash Pandey once again ran through J&K batting taking four wickets in the second innings. He completed the match haul of 10 wickets. MR Raut and Shivam Choudhary took two wickets each.
Railways won the match by innings and 73 runs. Mohammad Saif for his magnificent unbeaten knock of 233 was awarded man of the match.
Earlier thanks to Mohammad Saif’s brilliant unbeaten knock of 233 runs Railways scored 427 runs in the first innings. Saif remained not out on a magnificent 233 from 293 balls. He hit 30 fours and three sixes. The next best score in Railways innings was 32 by Vivek Singh. For J&K, Abid Mushtaq took four wickets while Umar took three. Auqib Nabi took two wickets while Mohammad Tahir took one.
In reply, J&K got all out for 161 run total in the first innings to hand Railways first innings lead of 266. They were forced to follow on.
Suryansh Raina with 48 was the highest scorer for J&K while Musaif Aijaz scored 39. Aakash Pandey took six wickets for Railways while MR Raut took two.
In the match which saw none of the other batters able to reach even the 55 run mark with 53 being the next-best score, Mohammad Saif of Railways displayed the highest level of brilliance. There are very few examples of such an inning in the entire Ranji Trophy history and it was pure class displayed by Saif.
After playing four matches in this season’s Ranji Trophy tournament, J&K stand in sixth place at the points table in Elite Group D with mere six points. They suffered innings defeat against Madhya Pradesh in the first match followed by a nine-wicket defeat against Gujarat in the second match. In the third match, J&K beat Vidarbha by 42 runs.
J&K are next scheduled to play against Punjab on January 10 in Mohali.