Shami bags 3, J&K need 131 more to take lead

Mohammed Shami on Monday bowled a couple of incisive spells to get three wickets but Jammu and Kashmir did well enough to reach 198/5 against Bengal on the second day of the Ranji Trophy semifinal.

- Agencies

Bengal's Mohammed Shami celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of Abdul Samad.

(PT)

Bengal's first innings ended at 328 after starting the day at 249/5 with Auqib Nabi (5/87 in 26 overs) completing another fivewicket haul.

Bengal's inform batter Sudip Kumar Gharami (146, 246 balls) could only add 10 more runs to his overnight unbeaten score of 136 as Nabi got one to tail in slightly and found his pads.

Veteran Sumanta Gupta (39 off 36 balls) did give the charge but the hosts couldn’t press home the advantage as both Nabi and left-arm seamer Sunil Kumar (3/4lin 20 overs) used the second new ball to good effect.

When Jammu and Kashmir batted, Shami bowled a probing first spell in which both openers Shubham Khajuria (3) and Tawer Hussain (2) were found plumb-infront while Shubham Pundir was snapped in the slips by Sudip Chatterjee of an away delivery from Mukesh Kumar.

At 13/3, J&K were dire in straits before skipper Paras Dogra (58 off 112) joined forces with Abdul Samad (82 off 85 balls) as they counterattacked with great gusto.