Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 8: Himachal Pradesh defeated J&K by a narrow margin of 4 runs in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, being played at Reliance Cricket Stadium Vadodara, today.
Himachal won the toss and elected to bat first and gave respectable target of 157 runs by losing 8 wickets in the process in stipulated overs. Captain RR Dhawan and Raghav Dhawan contributed 45 (unbeaten) and 47 runs off 26 and 46 balls respectively, while AP Vashisht scored 22 runs with the help of three boundaries and one six for his team and NR Gangta made 12 runs.
For J&K, Aquib Nabi clinched 3 wickets by conceding 35 runs and Parvez Rasool and Abid Mushtaq clinched 2 wickets each giving away 11 and 12 runs respectively.
In reply, J&K team led by captain Shubham Singh Pundir failed to achieve target and bundled out at 153 runs and lost the match with narrow margin of 4 runs. Abdul Samad once again showed his character and made highest 55 runs while facing 32 balls with the help of 5 sixes and one crispy boundary, whereas Abid Nabi and Abid Mushtaq gave some resistance to their opponents and scored 29 and 16 runs off 8 and 19 balls respectively. Duo openers-Ian Chauhan and Vivrant Sharma made 13 and 16 runs respectively.
For Himachal Pradesh, RR Dhawan was the wrecker in chief who took 6 wickets by conceding 23 runs in 3.5 balls, while MJ Dagar and AS Bedi clinched 2 & 1 wickets respectively.
J&K will take on Jharkhand in the last league match at same venue tomorrow.
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