Ranji: Debutant Aakash Choudhary hands J&K advantage against UP

STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Jammu and Kashmir’s debutant Aakash Choudhary claimed 3/17 in his seven overs to reduce Uttar Pradesh to 31/3 in the opening day of round five of Ranji Trophy 2018-19 season after J&k, led by their experienced campaigners Irfan Pathan and Parvez Rasool, had posted 290 all out at Gandhi Memorial Science College Ground, Jammu on Thursday.
After being put into bat, J&K found themselves in trouble early on losing their openers with only 29 on board. Ahmed Bandy (10) and Shubham Khajuria (19) were taken by pacer Yash Dayala. Imtiaz Ahmed got rid of Paras Sharma for 6.
J&K then fought back with Ian Dev Singh and Rasool combining for a stand of 102 runs. Ian Dev made 49 before falling to spinner Saurabh Kumar. Rasool fell shortly after scoring 87 to Saurabh. Irfan Pathan then batted with the tail and scored 91 off 76 balls to take J&K to 290.
Pathan joined forces with debutant Aakash Choudhary, who came out to bat at No.11 and made an unbeaten 14 in 71-run stand with Irfan Pathan that took J&K to 290. He’s also taken three wickets with his right-arm medium-pace, reducing Uttar Pradesh to 31 for 3. For UP, Saurabh picked 6/90.

In reply, UP lost Mohammad Saif for 6, Dhruv Pratap Singh for 0 and Priyam Garg for 4 – all to pacer Aakash Choudhary. At the close of play, UP had opener Madhav Kaushik (11*) and skipper Akshdeep Nath (1*) in the middle.