Asif Iqbal
Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir senior team has crashed out of the race of qualifying for knockout stage after managing to secure a solitary win in all of its five group matches in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. The team wrapped up a highly dismal campaign losing to Jharkhand by 5 wickets in the match played at Reliance Stadium Vadodara.
The team placed in Elite, Group C, lost its first match to Andhra Pradesh by 36 runs, followed by another loss to Rajasthan by 5 wickets. The Shubham Pundhir led unit however came back stronger in its third match to defeat Haryana by 7 wickets.
The team showed grit against Himachal Pradesh, courtesy of some late innings blitz by Sammad and Aquib, but fell marginally short to suffer its third loss in four matches.
The team locked horns with Jharkhand one last time before bowing out of the tournament.
Batting first after winning the toss the team posted a total of 156 for the loss of 6 wickets. Openers Qamran Iqbal and Jatin Wadhwan made well-crafted 67 runs for the first wicket. Qamran was first to go, which was soon followed by Sammad and Ian Dev Singh.
Skipper Shubham Pundhir scored unbeaten 26 runs off 12 balls to take his team to a total of 156 runs.
Setting out to chase the target, Jharkhand after losing Utkarsh Singh early saw a partnership of 43 runs between Ishank Jaggi and skipper Surabh Tiwary. As the two batters got out within a gap of 20 runs, giving some sort of relief to Jammu and Kashmir, in came Virat Singh and Kushal Singh who crafted a partnership of 58 runs to inch closer to the target.
However it was Ankul Roy and Pankaj Kumar duo which sealed the victory for their team with a few lusty blows towards the end.
The Elite, Group C, is topped by Rajasthan with five wins out of five matches, followed by Himachal Pradesh with 3 wins and two wins apiece by Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana. Jammu and Kashmir on the other side with a single win has finished bottom of the table. (GNS)
