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Jammu and Kashmir took one of the most memorable wins in their history when they shocked reigning Ranji champion Madhya Pradesh by two wickets in a high scoring Vijay Hazare Trophy Group D match at DY Patil Stadium, Mumbai on Saturday. Opener Yash Dubey hit a run-a-ball 121 (13x4s), while opening partner Abhishek Bhandari made 74 (81b; 9x4s, 2x6s) when Madhya Pradesh posted a massive 342 for 9 after being asked to hit. But Jammu and Kashmir did a robbery as half a century of opener Vivrant Sharma (69), Henan Nazir (68) and Abdul Samad (66) laid the groundwork before Abid Mushtaq delivered a stunning 42-off 19-ball counterattack to victory.
Mushtaq smashed three sixes and as many borders as he faced Avesh Khan and Kuldeep Sen. But drama was in store when Avesh (3/86) sent him off in 47th with Jammu and Kashmir still needing 31 of 21 balls.
Sahil Lotra (23 not out of 11b; 4x4s) held his nerves to seal the chase with four balls left.
Auqib Nabi (11 not out; 9 balls, 1×4) provided fine support as the duo held out after Mushtaq’s sacking in a match-winning 34-run uninterrupted partnership for the ninth wicket.
But at the innings break, it looked like an unlikely chase for the batters of Jammu and Kashmir, who started vigilantly.
Opener Sharma and Jatin Wadhwan (17) scored 81 runs from as many balls, but off-spinner Saransh Jain sent both batters away with just 19 runs to derail their pursuit.
They stared down the barrel after skipper Shubham Pundir (6) came out cheap as they needed 230 runs from 167 balls.
But Samad did the damage control in a 117-run partnership with Nazir. Avesh sent them both next to just 11 runs.
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Then it was Mushtaq who mounted a perfect counter-attack to keep Jammu and Kashmir in the hunt. In Group D, Baroda climbed to the top of the rankings, followed by Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir with a net run rate.
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
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