Jammu, December 8: From U-19 Vinoo Mankad One Day Trophy to the ongoing Multi-Day Cooch Behar Trophy, today, the penultimate day of the ongoing match, was the only day dominated by Jammu and Kashmir Under-19 boys team so far in the season, as the batsmen led by gutsy Moomin Muzaffar showed resilience and the bowlers hit the right areas against Pondicherry, thus enabling their team to make a match of it at Kandukuri Cricket Academy ground, Vizag today.
Earlier, resuming from overnight score of 320/7, Pondicherry added just 14 runs and lost all their wickets to make 334 runs in 134.2 overs and gain a vital first innings lead of 129 runs. KG Shree was the only batsman to show resistance today scoring 19 runs. Neyan Kangayan (180) and Nitin Pranaav (84) were the main contributors, while from Jammu and Kashmir, Ranjot Singh took 4 wickets, while Mohammad Manzir bagged 3. Yasir Rasheed, Sarvashish Singh and Manit shared 1 wicket apiece.
Trailing by 129 runs, J&K openers began the second essay cautiously and confidently before Arya Suvansh Thakur was dismissed for his individual score of 19 runs and the team’s total of 34 runs. Then came in Moomin Muzaffar, who applied to a perfection and faced 212 balls for his unbeaten 95 runs, helping Jammu and Kashmir reach 208/4, gaining a lead of 79 runs, with 6 wickets in hand at stumps on day-3 today. Yuvraj Saini (35), Gursimran (30) and first innings centurion, Shivansh Sharma unbeaten (12) were the other contributors. Moomin, in particular was in awe-inspiring touch, hitting the ball with ease and comfort.
For Pondicherry, Jyothi Swaroop B, Akash Pugazhanthi, S Saichetan and Rohan S shared 1 wicket apiece.
With final day’s play left and J&K having a lead of 79 runs with 6 wickets in hand, there are all three possibilities in the match-it can be a draw, Pondicherry’s victory or even J&K’s win, however, going through the nature of the surface/strip and devastating form of dangerous Neyan Kangayan, one gets a feeling, the match is still 70-30 in favour of Pondicherry.