Jammu, Jan 19: With one of the batters slamming classic century, four magnificent half-centuries and another unbeaten 43, Jammu and Kashmir batsmen made merry, while talented left-arm spinner Abid Mushtaq made inroads into the rival territory as Jammu and Kashmir are in sight of a vital first innings lead in the ongoing Ranji Trophy Elite Group-D match at GGM Science College Hostel Ground here.
Earlier, resuming from an overnight score of 241/3, J&K rode on splendid half-centuries by comeback-man experienced Ian Dev Singh and explosive Abdul Samad to declare their innings at 446/6 in 156 overs. Ian scored 61 runs off 164 balls, studded with five boundaries, while Samad contributed 58 off 90 balls studded with 3 fours and 2 massive sixes. MusaifAjaz (43) and Abid Mushtaq (31) were at the crease when skipper Shubham Khajuria made the declaration.
It may be recalled that Abhinav Puri had scored a ton, while Shubham and Vivrant had scored superb fifties yesterday.
For Tripura, SS Ghosh took 3 wickets, while MB Mura Singh and AA Das claimed one wicket each.
In reply, Tripura were struggling at 74/4 in 36 overs at the draw of stumps on the penultimate day of the match today.
Opening batter, Bikram Kumar Das was unbeaten on 39 off 120 balls including 5 boundaries, while SS Ghosh was at the crease on 23 runs. BB Ghosh (3), Sridam Paul (5), Sudip Chatterjee (2) and RA Dey (0) were sent back to the pavilion cheaply.
For J&K, Abid Mushtaq was phenomenal once again as he made inroads into the rival territory with a fabulous display of spin bowling, spun web around the rival batters and captured 3 important wickets by giving away 13 runs in his 11 overs, while speedster Umar Nazir once again gave much needed breakthrough with a beauty of a delivery.
