Hubli, Feb 24 (IANS) The 27-year-old Shubham Pundir slammed a historic ton, while Abdul Samad and Yawer Hassan hit half-centuries as Jammu and Kashmir reached 284/2 at the end of Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy final against the eight-time champions Karnataka here at the Hubli Cricket Ground on Tuesday.

Jammu and Kashmir continued their dominance against Karnataka in the final session of the day, with Pundir leading from the front by sticking to the crease.

Pundir, however, lost his partner, Paras Dogra, just after two overs into the session as he walked off the field after being hit by a sharp bouncer from Vijaykumar Vyshak. Paras scored nine runs from 48 balls before leaving the ground.

Star player Abdul Samad, who came in place of Paras, rotated the strike well from the start as he was looking in good touch. Samad scored three back-to-back boundaries in the 69th over to put more pressure on the Karnataka side, who were looking for a wicket.

With Samad playing an amazing knock, Pundir continued his brilliant innings and completed his maiden hundred in the Ranji Trophy final with a six off Shikhar Shetty’s ball. Pundir achieved the milestone in just 186 deliveries. He became the first J&K batter to score a hundred in the final of the domestic tournament.

Samad completed his fifty off just 64 balls in the 86th over with a single. He remained not out at 52 with five fours and one six to his name.

While Pundir remained unbeaten at 117 with 12 fours and two sixes, the duo’s ongoing partnership of 105 runs took the team close to the 300 mark at the end of day 1. The team scored 106 runs in the final session.

Earlier, riding on brilliant half-centuries by opener Yawer Hassan and number three batter Pundir, Jammu and Kashmir reached 178/2 at tea on the opening day.

Yawer and Pundir started the post-lunch session from where they left off at the end of the first session, by continuously rotating the strike to put pressure on the opposition. The duo completed their hundred partnership in the 39th over. With Yawer contributing more by scoring 60 runs and Pundir adding 40 runs to the scorecard. Pundir completed his fifty with a four in the 45th over against Vidyadhar Patil. He achieved the milestone by facing 98 balls.

Karnataka finally got the breakthrough in the 51st over when Prasidh Krishna trapped Yawer on a length ball. Yawer missed a well-deserved hundred by just 12 runs. He hammered 13 fours during his 88-run innings. Jammu and Kashmir have an excellent start after opting to bat first. Openers Qamran Iqbal and Yawer had a testing time against the new ball, but they managed to survive the first 10 overs before Iqbal was sent packing by Prasidh Krishna for six runs.

The first strike for Karnataka came after 45 minutes of play when Prasidh Krishna got rid of Qamran. The opener was wobbly, with his feet prodding and charging forward often to Vidhyadhar Patil in the first spell from this end. Just as he began to look settled in, he failed to account for the extra bounce from Prasidh, handing a simple catch to KL Rahul at second slip.

After the wicket, Pundir and Yawer remained unbeaten in the first session as Jammu and Kashmir finished at 104/1 at Lunch. The team scored 72 runs in the second session and 106 runs in the final session of the day.

Brief scores:

Jammu & Kashmir 284/2 (Shubham Pundir 117 not out, Yawer Hassan 88, Abdul Samad 52 not out; Prasidh Krishna 2-36) against Karnataka

–IANS

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