Jammu, Aug 20: Dazzling performances by the youngsters’ quartet of Vanshaj Sharma, Abid Mushtaq, Musaif Ajaz and Qamran Iqbal powered clinical J&K to a crushing 9-wicket victory over Indian Railways, thus beginning the campaign in style in the ongoing Bucchi Babu Invitation Cricket Tournament, organised by Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) at MRF Pachaiyappas, Chennai.As per a statement issued here, earlier, trailing by 173 runs after following-on, Railways’ scored 238/9 in 45 overs in the second essay to set a meagre target of 69 runs for Jammu and Kashmir. Mrunal Devdhar (49), skipper Vivek Singh (45), Dinesh Mor (42), Ashish Singh (35) and Kuch Marathe (30) were the main contributors. For J&K, Abid Mushtaq took 5 wickets, while Vanshaj Sharma bagged 4.J&K chased the target easily by losing one wicket, thus won the match by 9 wickets. Musaif Ajaz who scored a splendid century in the first innings, remained unbeaten on 40 off 37 balls with 3 fours and 3 sixes, while Yawer Hassan contributed unbeaten 22 off 60 balls with one boundary. Another first innings centurion Qamran Iqbal was the only batter to be dismissed on his individual score of 6 runs. For Railways, Akash took the Lone wicket to fall. Vanshaj Sharma was adjudged as the Player of the match for his 10-wicket match haul. Former International cricketer Ajay Sharma is accompanying the team as the Head Coach. “Heartiest congratulations to J&K team for an outstanding victory against the Railways in its opening encounter. A 9-wicket outright victory in a 3-day match speaks volumes of the total dominance by our team,” tweeted Brig Anil Gupta, Member Administration JKCA. Member Cricket Operations and Development JKCA, Mithun Manhas said such a big win in the absence of a quartet of experienced campaigners including Shubham Khajuria, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Auqib Nabi and Kanhaiya Wadhawan, is testament to the healthy process and health of the team.
BRIEF SCORES: J&K 1st innings 393/5 Qamran Iqbal 138 Musaif Ajaz 114 Akash Pandey 3/109
Railways 1st Innings 220/8 Ashish Singh 76 Dinesh Mor 57* Vanshaj Sharma 6/49
Railways 2nd innings 238/9 Mrunal Devdhar 49 Vivek Singh 49 Abid Mushtaq 5/131 Vanshaj Sharma 4/92.
