Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 11: It was J&K skipper Parvez Rasool all the way, at his butchering best, scoring flamboyant 171 runs to help his team reach 338/ 7 against Services at stumps on day-1 of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group-C match at Palam ground, Delhi today.
Earlier, Services skipper Rajat Paliwal won the toss and put Jammu and Kashmir into bat in somewhat gloomy weather conditions.
Batting first, Jammu and Kashmir rode on a magnificent innings of Rasool and a patient fifty by opener Shubham Khajuria to score a good total of 338 runs in 88 overs. Rasool scored 171 off just 163 balls, with the help of 23 fours and 2 sixes, while Khajuria took 175 balls to score 55 runs studded with 4 boundaries.
Rasool, who did not play first four Ranji Trophy matches this season because of knee injury, was in sublime form in his first outing today, sending the rival bowlers on a leather-hunt with utmost ease, fluidity, grace and brilliance. He scored his century in just 79 balls to start the season with a bang.
J&K lost first two wickets early in the innings at 17/2 in 12.4 overs, with opener Suryansh Raina (0) and Shubham Pundir (6) back in the dressing room. However, the duo of Khajuria and Henan Nazir took the score to 61 runs in 32.1 overs, before the dismissal of Henan at his individual score of 22 runs. All-round Aquib Nabi also contributed valuable 30 runs off 44 balls, studded with 5 boundaries, while another all-rounder Abid Mushtaq again showed the grit and guts to score unbeaten 27 runs off 22 balls including 4 fours. In form youngster Abdul Samad and wicketkeeper batsman, Fazil Rashid fell cheaply for 4 and 5 runs respectively.
From Services, Poonam Poonia took 3 wickets by conceding 99 runs in his 27 overs, while speedsters Diwesh Pathania and Sachidanand Pandey claimed 2 wickets each.
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