Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 24: Talented middle-order batsman Parvez Rasool Zargar and promising all-round Ramdayal Punia helped J&K to fight back to set a decent target of 235 runs on a bowling friendly strip for Himachal Pradesh on third day of the 4-day Ranji trophy Group C match at GGM Science College Hostel Ground, here today.
Himachal Pradesh were 32/1 at the draw of stumps today.
Earlier, resuming from an overnight score of 16/3, Parvez Rasool and youngster Owais Shah played sensibly in the morning session and consolidated the innings and took the score to 87 runs in 33.4 overs, before Owais Shah was caught at second slip by Paras Dogra after the bowling of speedster Vikramjeet Malik at his individual score of 33 runs. He hit 4 boundaries and one six in his brief but attractive knock. Then wicketkeeper batsman Obaid Haroon joined Parvez and the duo took the score to 119 runs in 45.4 overs, when Vikramjeet Malik lured him to edge the ball into the hands of wicketkeeper AS Bhalaik at his individual score of 11 runs. Then it was the turn of gutsy and gritty Ramdayal who along with Rasool and Manik Gupta (18) took the score to respectable 248 runs in 81.3 overs. He scored valuable 71 runs off 131 balls with the help of delectable 9 boundaries before becoming victim of left-arm spinner Mukesh Sharma, while Parvez Rasool played a brilliant innings of 83 runs off 178 balls with the help of 10 crispy boundaries. Both of these batsmen played shots with fluidity, grace and utmost- timing. For Himachal Pradesh, Vikramjeet Malik captured 3 wickets, while R Dhawan, Karan Veer and Mukesh Sharma claimed 2 wickets each.
Chasing a target of 235 runs, Himachal Pradesh were 32/1 at stumps today. They need to score 203 runs more with 9 wickets in hand on the last day on a wicket which is expected to do some drama. For that matter, the match hangs in balance and the team which holds its nerves better will be the winner.
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