Hilal hits fifty, Banday flops, Ishtiaq displays explosiveness as JKCA Blue registers big win

Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 13: Hilal Ahmed scored fabulous 59 runs and Sidharth Mangotra contributed well made 36 runs, before spinning duo of Manik Gupta and Amir Aziz and medium fast bowling trio of Mohd Mudassir, skipper Ramdayal and Asif Rasool wreaked havoc to bundle-out JKCA Reds and help JKCA Blue to register a big win in the match of the ongoing Quadrangular 50-Over Cricket Series, being organized by Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) to pick the team for forthcoming Vijay Hazare and Mushtaq Ali Tournaments at GGM Science College Hostel ground, here today.
Earlier, batting first, JKCA Blues scored a decent total of 245 runs in 48.2 overs. Hilal Ahmed was the top scorer with 59 runs off 70 balls, studded with 6 boundaries, while Sidharth Magotra, Amir Aziz, Ramdayal Punia and Aditya Pratap Singh contributed 36, 34, 31 and 26 runs to the total respectively. Asif Rasool remained not out with 6-ball 10 runs. For JKCA Reds, left-arm spinner Waseem Raza took 3 wickets by giving away 32 runs in his 10 overs, while speedster Rohit Sharma scalped 2 wickets, conceding 41 runs in 9.2 overs. Off-spinner Nirbaya Badyal bagged 2 wickets by conceding 62 runs in 10 overs, while left-arm spinner Vijay Dogra and medium pacer Syed Sagar claimed one wicket each.
In reply, JKCA Reds began on a disastrous note, losing out of sorts opening batsman Ahmed Banday, who continued his flop show, for naught, while another opener Ishtiaq Rasool displayed explosive batting skills in his brief knock of 34 runs off just 19 balls. He hit 5 fours and 2 sixes including one huge hit out of park after the bowling of speedster Sohail Andleeb. Mohsin Iqbal also played a decent innings of 27 runs off 31 balls, studded with 2 fours and one six, while Manzoor Pandove, Asif Khan, Pranav Gupta and Paras Sharma contributed 22, 19, 14 and 10 runs to the total respectively. The whole side bundled-out for 139 runs, thus lost the match by 106 runs. Manik Gupta and Amir Aziz scalped 3 wickets each, while Mohd Mudasir claimed 2 wickets. Ramdayal and Asif Rasool claimed one wicket each. Spinners captured 12 wickets in the match while almost all the medium fast bowlers bowled with decent line and length throughout the match.