RASOOL HELPS J&K THRASH TRIPURA, LEAP TO TOP OF GROUP

AGARTALA:SKIPPER Parvez Rasool returned match figures of 12 for 73 as Jammu and Kashmir thrashed Tripura by 329 runs on the third day of its Ranji Trophy Group ‘C’ encounter here on Thursday.

With the emphatic win, J&K moved to the top of the points table.

Resuming its second innings at 49 for 1, the visiting team batted aggressively to make 306 for nine and set Tripura a mammoth 489-run target.

The win took J&K to 39 points from eight matches and in contention for qualification for the knockout phase from the group.

Odisha, which is playing Maharashtra in Pune, has 35 points from seven games while Services is third with 33 points.

Rasool did the star turn, returning a haul of five for 28 to add to his first innings figures of seven for 45 as Tripura was bundled out for 119 in 36.5 in the second innings.

The experienced off-spinner, who has played one ODI and one T20 International for India, bowled superbly and picked up the first four wickets to fall to leave Tripura in a spin.

With the home team tottering at 35 for 5 and in danger of capitulating quickly, captain M B Mura Singh, who had earlier picked up six wickets in the second innings to finish with a match haul of 10 for 164, delayed the inevitable with a gritty knock of 58 (78 balls, 10 fours).

In J&K’S second innings, Shubham Khajuria (76, 112 balls, 9 fours, 3 sixes), Abdul Samad (56) and Rasool (56) came up with half-centuries to put the team in command.

Brief scores: J&K

329 all out (Jiyaad Nazir Magrey 66, Aquib Nabi 46, Abid Mushtaq 76 not out; M B Mura Singh 4/100) and 306 for 9 decl (Shubham Khajuria 76, Parvez Rasool 56, Abdul Samad 56; M B Mura Singh 6/64) bt

187 all out (Milind 55, Pratyush Singh 47; Parvez Rasool 7/45) & 119 all out (M B Mura Singh 58; Parvez Rasool 5/28) by 329 runs. J&K: 6, Tripura: 0.

Tripura Points: