Ranji Trophy: Jammu and Kashmir a step closer to dream final

KALYANI, Wednesday: Jammu & Kashmir are 83 runs away from a place in their first-ever Ranji Trophy final after a staggering collapse from Bengal turned the semi-final on its head at the Bengal Cricket Academy ground here.

Having secured a slender 26-run first-innings lead when Mohammed Shami grabbed a career-best 8 for 90 to bowl the visitors out for 302, Bengal imploded for 99 – their lowest first-class total against J&K – inside 25.1 overs on Tuesday afternoon. Set 126 for victory, J&K reached 43 for 2 by stumps, Vanshaj Sharma (9*) and Shubham Pundir (22*) seeing their side to the close with an unbroken 31-run stand.

The slide began with Auqib Nabi striking with his fourth ball to complete Sudip Chatterjee’s pair and continued as Sunil Kumar trapped in-form Sudip Gharami lbw in the next over. Nabi removed skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran for five and Yudhvir Singh accounted for Anushtup Majumder to leave Bengal 7 for 4 inside five overs. A brief recovery by Shahbaz Ahmed and Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal (35 for the fourth wicket) ended when both fell in quick succession; Nabi finished with 4 for 36 and Kumar 4 for 27, while Yudvir took 2 for 29.

Needing just 83 more runs on the fourth day, J&K will chase history against a Bengal side still reeling from one of the competition’s most dramatic mid-order collapses.