Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 3: Despite some extraordinary good spells by speedster Ram Dayal Punia (2/64) and off-spinner Parvez Rasool Zargar (3/96), the Jharkhand batsmen made merry and took their side to a decent total of 354/8 to gain a lead of 159 runs in the Ranji Trophy League Group-C match at stumps on day-2 at GGM Science College ground, here.
Earlier, resuming from an overnight score of 81/1, the pair of MP Nemat and night-watchman Rahul Shukla made a useful partnership of 53 runs before both of them fell in quick succession. Nemat made delightful 75 runs including 13 boundaries, while Shukla contributed 18 runs, before becoming victims of Ram Dayal and Parvez Rasool respectively. Parvez scalped dependable Ishank Jaggi very early in his innings to capture his second victim. Dangerous looking Saurabh Tiwari (72) and wicketkeeper batsman SP Gautam were in great touch before their partnership of 108 runs was broken by Ram Dayal by dismissing former with a beauty, which was followed by the dismissal of Sunny Gupta and SP Gautam (29). While Tiwari smashed 4 fours and 2 towering sixes in his knock, Gautam, on the other hand, hit 11 boundaries and 1 six in his innings. Skipper Shabaz Nadeem and speedster Shiv Shankar Rao were at the crease, when stumps were drawn today.
For J&K, Parvez Rasool captured 3 wickets by conceding 96 runs in his 29 overs, while Ram Dayal claimed 2 wickets by giving away 64 runs in 25 overs, left-arm spinner, Amir Aziz and medium fast bowlers Samiullah Beigh and Abid Nabi claimed one wicket each.