Pankaj Jaiswal helped Himachal Pradesh defend a low total of 130 as they bowled J&K out for 97 and secure a 33-run victory at the Feroz Shah Kotla.
Opting to bat after winning the toss, HP’s batting wasn’t much to write home about, with Sumeet Verma (21 in 13 balls), Nikhil Gangta (31 in 27) and Bipul Sharma (28 in 31) getting starts but failing to go on and make big scores.
J&K put up a good bowling performance with Parveez Rasool, the captain, Waseem Raza, Ram Dayal and Mohammed Mudhasir all picking up two wickets each.
J&K would have backed themselves to pull off the chase, but they didn’t get off to the best of starts with Jaiswal, Mayank Dagar and Kanwar Abhinay reducing them to 28 for 4.
There was some hope provided by the half-century partnership between Manzoor Dar (36 in 23) and Bandeep Singh (18 in 21) for the sixth wicket, but Dar’s dismissal saw the J&K lower order capitulate without a fuss.
Jaiswal returned 4 for 15 from 2.4 overs, while Dagar had 2 for 7 from three.
