Paras Dogra hammers hurricane 207

Jammu & Kashmir played hosts to Himachal Pradesh at the Maulana Azad Stadium, Jammu in the Vijay Merchant Trophy (under-16) North Zone league match. After three days of eventful cricket, the match ended in a draw but Himachal captain Paras Dogra was very much the star, hitting a hurricane 207 in 163 balls.

Winning the toss, J&K elected to bat first and were troubled by Kapoor Singh who bagged 6/85. J&K were helped by a brilliant century by captain Yasser Shafi who opened for J&K and made 112 in 269 balls including 16 boundaries. Shafi held the innings together for the best part and then came a late order cameo by batsman number ten Abid Nabi who made a quickfire 56 in 61 balls including six fours and a six. J&K were all out in the 116th over for 286.

Himachal lost a wicket too early and were 77/2 in the 21st over. Cometh the hour, cometh the man in Paras Dogra. And Dogra wasted no time taking the attack to the J&K camp scoring his fifty in 36 balls and completing his hundred in 86 balls. There was no respite for the hapless J&K bowlers as runs kept flowing from Dogra's bat. Dogra was run out for 207 and those runs came in double quick time as he smashed a six and 32 boundaries. Dogra and Gaurav Soni added 221 for the fifth wicket in 43.4 overs. On the final day the Himachal innings came to an end at 407 in 94.4 overs thanks to a late order collapse. Soni made 71 in 154 balls and hit seven boundaries. Sumit Silwal with 5/97 was the pick of the J&K bowlers. Having gained a first innings lead, Himachal pressed on for a victory only to be denied by some good middle order batting by Munish Sharma (42) and Silwal (33 not out) as J&K made 165/8 by the close of play. Kapoor Singh was again successful with the ball picking up three wickets. Dogra followed his brilliance with the bat by picking up 2/23 in 15 overs. Himachal took home five points and J&K three.