Abid’s belief in his abilities helps J&K pull off a remarkable win yet again

Jammu & Kashmir spinners Abid Mushtaq and Vanshaj Sharma cut up the Pondicherry wickets equally between them.
| Photo Credit: S. Prasanna Venkatesan

It would have been a sense of deja vu for Jammu & Kashmir (J&Ok) watching left-arm spinner Abid Mushtaq run by means of the Pondicherry batting line-up, decided to safe a seemingly unbelievable win for his workforce.

With 87 to win in two days and a session, anybody would have thought Pondicherry was all set to wrap up the match. But Abid didn’t suppose so.

“When I went onto the bottom, I instructed my bowling coach, ‘This rating is a far cry for them [as the ball was turning sharply]. ‘Don’t fear, I’ll present you (what I imply),’” he stated after his team’s 19-run win over Pondicherry on the third day of their Ranji Trophy match right here on Sunday.

After the third session on the second day, Pondicherry captain Rohit Damodaran seemed bewildered, explaining to a help workers that the incoming deliveries off the left-arm spinners had been exhausting to face.

Abid concurs that the arm-ball has been his main weapon on turners. “When I maintain the ball tight, the ball goes straight. That is troublesome to play on turning tracks. I work on the arm-ball for nearly 15-20 minutes in each observe session.”

In the third session on the second day, Pondicherry started its chase and was lowered to 35 for seven, with Abid claiming 5 for 17 to finish his second ten-wicket match haul. He had precipitated a turnaround for his workforce and bought it pumped up with belief.

After all, J&Ok had been bowled out for 106 throughout the first session on the primary day, Pondicherry had managed a 66-run first-innings lead, and J&Ok was again bowled out for 152 for Pondicherry to get solely 87 to win. The odds have been useless set towards J&Ok.

Incidentally, Abid’s first ten-wicket match haul had additionally come in a related state of affairs and he had helped his workforce obtain a seemingly unbelievable win.

When Vidarbha was to get 141 to win in round one-and-a-half days in the third spherical of the 2022-23 Ranji Trophy season, Abid picked up eight for 18 for it to be bowled out for 101! He took six wickets in three overs — one, two, and three in every over!