Jammu & Kashmir hold whiphand after eventful day

There was plenty of activity on the second day of Jammu & Kashmir's North Zone Ranji Trophy match against Services at Jammu. Eighteen wickets tumbled during the day and after all the dust had settled, the hosts have been left on the brink of victory. Chasing a fourth innings target of 108, Jammu & Kashmir were 44/1 at stumps.

Earlier in the day, Jammu & Kashmir were bundled out for 176 in their first innings for a lead of just 14. Ashwani Gupta remained undefeated on 56, watching in frustration from the other end as the last six wickets fell for 38 runs. Services seamer Sudhakar Ghag did the bulk of the damage with a haul of 6/56.

J&K hit back immediately by routing Services for 121 in under two and a half hours. Skipper and lead strike bowler, Abdul Qayoom, who has been in impressive form ever since the season began, added a bag of 4/19 to his first innings pickings of 5/42. Ghag's blistering 31 off 17 balls was the top score in an innings that was over in 28.2 overs.

Openers Vidya Bhaskar and Ajay Bhatti put on 43 in just ten overs as J&K began strongly in their runchase. Although the former fell just before stumps for 30, the hosts are heavily favoured to bring a speedy conclusion to the match on Monday.