Kalyani (WB), February 16 Mohammed Shami bowled some effective spells on Monday, taking three wickets, but Jammu and Kashmir played well enough to reach 198 for 5 against Bengal on the second day of the Ranji Trophy semi-final, which remains evenly poised going into the third day here.
Bengal's first innings ended at 328 after starting the day at 249 for 5, with Auqib Nabi (5/87 in 26 overs) completing another five-wicket haul and achieving a milestone of 50 wickets in the ongoing Ranji Trophy season.
Bengal's in-form 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 try to take the attack, but the hosts couldn't capitalize on this with both Nabi and left-arm seamer Sunil Kumar (3/41 in 20 overs) using the second new ball effectively.
When Jammu and Kashmir batted, Shami, who was a key player in many of India's overseas victories, bowled a probing first spell, dismissing both openers Shubham Khajuria (3) and Tawer Hussain (2) plumb in front, and also dismissing Shubham Pundir off a delivery from Mukesh Kumar that was caught by Sudip Chatterjee in the slips.
At 13 for 3, J&K were in a difficult position before their experienced captain Paras Dogra (58, 112) joined forces with young IPL star Abdul Samad (82 off 85 balls), who counter-attacked with great gusto.
While Samad started by counter-attacking Shami (3/60 in 13 overs) and Mukesh (2/40 in 13 overs) with a flurry of fours, Dogra remained resolute at the other end during the 143-run partnership for the fourth wicket, which brought J&K back into the game.
Dogra also completed 10,000 runs in the Ranji Trophy, a testament to his longevity.
Where Bengal lost momentum was due to Abhimanyu Easwaran's captaincy. Once Samad had hit a few boundaries, Easwaran deployed a defensive field and brought in Shahbaz Ahmed (0/19 in 8 overs) into the attack.
One shouldn't judge solely on the figures, as Shahbaz didn't take a wicket. He bowled on Samad and Dogra's pads, trying to stop the flow of boundaries.
Instead of close-in fielders, Easwaran kept a long-off, deep extra cover, and deep mid-wicket to stop the boundaries. The third pacer in the line-up – all-rounder Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal – hardly clocked 120 kmph and was the easiest among the lot to play against.
When the duo was scoring freely, Easwaran didn't think about giving a short burst to either Shami or Akash Deep, which could have made a difference.
It was Shami who came back in his second spell and got rid of a dangerous Samad, who was caught by Akash Deep.
Dogra, whose defence had looked impenetrable till then, then gave a catch to Suraj Sindhu off Mukesh.
From a comfortable 156 for 3, J&K slumped to 156 for 5 before Abid Mushtaq (26) and Kanhaiya Wadhawan (10) added 42 runs for the unbroken sixth-wicket stand.
Brief Scores: Bengal 1st Innings 328 in 97.1 overs (Sudip Kumar Gharami 146, Abhimanyu Easwaran 49, Auqib Nabi 5/87) vs J&K 1st Innings 198/5 in 51 overs (Abdul Samad 82, Paras Dogra 58, Mohammed Shami 3/60).
