Rajkot, Nov 29: Musaif Ajaz was at his murderous best in his superb century and skipper Kanhaiya Wadhawan was brilliant in his ton, while left-arm spinner Vanshaj Sharma once again spun web around the rival batsmen and young speedster Manit Jasrotia impressed one and all as Jammu and Kashmir crushed minnows Sikkim by a huge margin of 294 runs to qualify for the knockout stage in the ongoing U-25 State A Trophy at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot on Tuesday.
J&K is now just two steps away from writing a new chapter in the cricketing history by winning two important battles at hand and making it to the finals of this prestigious trophy.
Earlier, batting first, J&K posted a huge total of 394 runs on board as talented middle-order batsman Musaif Ajaz slammed yet another cracking century, while skipper Kanhaiya Wadhawan also scored a magnificent century. Both batsmen toyed with the rival bowlers to send them on a leather hunt. Musaif scored 163 runs off 112 balls, studded with 7 fours and 8 sixes, while Kanhaiya contributed 131 runs off 107 balls with 7 boundaries and 2 sixes. Vivrant Sharma (36), Lone Nasir Muzaffar (20*) and Kawal Preet Singh (19) were the other contributors. For Sikkim, Aadil bagged 3 wickets while Igsho Limbo took two.
In reply, Sikkim bundled out for paltry 100 runs, thus lost the match by a huge margin of 294 runs. Aamir and skipper Arun contributed 28 and 25 runs to the total respectively. For J&K, Vanshaj Sharma and Manit Jasrotia took 4 wickets each by conceding 23 and 11 runs respectively.
The Sub Committee Members of JKCA including Brig Anil Gupta, Member-Administration; Advocate Sunil Sethi, Member Legal Affairs and Cricketer Mithun Manhas, Member Cricket Operations and Development JKCA congratulated the team for the splendid victory.
Majid Dar, Member Cricket Development Kashmir, Roopali Slathia and Abdul Qayoom, Members Cricket Advisory Committee and JKCA Senior Selectors namely Vidhya Bhaskar, Vijay Sharma, Dhruv Mahajan and Arshid Bhat also congratulated the team for this big win.
“#U25StateATrophy Congratulations JKCA on entering the knock out phase. Yet another achievement. Take each victory in your stride till you reach the ultimate goal. J&K is emerging as a force to reckon with in domestic cricket. #JKCA,” tweeted Brig Gupta.
The team is being accompanied by former First Class cricketer Sarabjeet Singh as Head Coach, Hilal Ahmed Zargar and Vivek Khajuria as Manager and Co-Manager respectively, Kavaljeet Singh as as Batting Coach, Sameer Ali as Bowling Coach, Guru Partap Singh as Trainer, Sahil Magotra as Performance/Video Analyst, Dr Chirag Pandya as Physio and Arun as Masseur.
