Mukesh Kumar picked six wickets while Akash Deep accounted for three as Rest of India ran through Jammu & Kashmir’s line-up after setting them a target of 279 to clinch the Irani Trophy in Srinagar.
The fourth day’s play began with Smaran Ravichandran carrying on with his century and attempting to swell the team’s lead in the company of the tail. He could only add 13 more runs in the company of the last two batters before being dismissed on 135. It set the game up as J&K, who scored 278 in their first innings, were asked to chase one more than that to win the game.
That however, did not transpire. Mukesh and Akash Deep ensured they got nowhere close to it. J&K openers Qamran Iqbal and Shubham Khajuria gave their side a strong start to chase with a 54-run stand, but that ended up being the best partnership of the innings. Akash Deep drew first blood by trapping Iqbal leg before. Shortly after, Mukesh bowled a double-wicket over where he took out No.3 batter Shubham Pundir and captain Paras Dogra to leave J&K tottering at 65/3.
Abdul Samad and Khajuria attempted to push back, and batted on for the next 5.2 overs but Akash ended that resolve by dismissing the latter. This opened J&K up to another collapse, one that sent them crashing to a defeat. They went from 89/4 to 110 all-out, with Mukesh dismissing the last three batters – Abid Mushtaq, Umar Nazir Mir and Sunil Kumar – in the same over. In just 28.4 overs, J&K’s chase was ended, giving RoI a massive 167-run victory.
Brief Scores: Rest of India 237 & 319 (Smaran Ravichandran 135, Sanat Sangwan 55; Umar Nazir Mir 3-92, Sahil Lotra 3-71, Sunl Kumar 3-56) beat Jammu and Kashmir 278 & 111 (Shubham Khajuria 36; Mukesh Kumar 6-33, Akash Deep 3-25) by 167 runs
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