JK ends Ranji Trophy season with inning defeat

Hosts J&K failed to salvage some pride in their last outing of the Ranji trophy tournament as they were faced humiliating inning defeat by Saurashtra on the third day of the match at GGM Science College, ground, Jammu on Thursday.

Already on the back foot by the all round display of the visiting side, JK bowlers quickly wrapped up last wicket of Saurashtra on the third day morning. JK needed to show extreme mental toughness and resolve to first overtake Saurashtra first inning lead of 359 runs and then survive almost two days of the play. However, they couldn’t do both as the JK second inning were bundled out for 296, well short of the first inning Saurashtra lead.

Though ever dependant Ian Dev tried his best to rescue the sinking ship with 127 run knock  , he was not able to save the match. Pranav Gupta was next best score for JK side with 39 while as Asif Khan scored 29, Sameer Ali 26, M Mudasir scored 23 and Amir Sofi scored 20.

Apart from Ian Dev no batsman including skipper Parvez Rasool who got out on naught failed to show any resolve to stay in the middle. JK lost match by an innings and 63 runs and Saurashtra earned full six points and one bonus point from the match. For Saurashtra, KR Makvana took seven wickets in second inning.

Though JK scored 296 runs in their second, the first inning debacle cost them the match and humiliation on home ground. It was a last chance for JK to salvage some pride in the season that was plagued by mediocre performance overall. In whole season JK side failed to win even a single match and lost three during the process. In another couple of matches they gave away first inning lead points which are equal to defeat in the Ranji format of cricket.

After the highs of 2013 and 2014 in which JK were able to qualify from the group and beat side like Mumbai, this year proved disastrous for the side.

Despite J&K Cricket Association led by Moulvi Imran Ansari had roped in Mithun Manhas as skipper for a high price, the side failed to deliver in the national event.

JK finished season on seventh place with nine points. However, eight placed Hyderabad and last placed Tripura have only played seven matches. Keeping that in mind, JK’s point’s position may go further down and even chances are that they would finish on bottom. Visitors Saurashtra finished season on top at points table with 36 points.

SCORECARD:

First Inning

J&K: 138/ 10 (Amir Aziz 32, Ian Dev 29, Sanandiya 5 wkts)

Saurashtra: 497/9 (Jackson 121, Unadkat 92, Sofi 3 wkts)

Second Inning

J&K: 296/10 (Ian Dev 127, Gupta 39, Makvana 7 wkts)

Result: Saurashtra win by inning and 63 runs