Lone nasir

Ranji Trophy: The opening day of the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals saw a dominant display of bowling across four matches on Saturday. Kerala pacer MD Nidheesh bagged a five-wicket haul to restrict Jammu & Kashmir to 228/8 at stumps at the MCA Stadium in Pune.

Kerala won the toss and invited J&K to bat first. The batting side had a poor start as Nidheesh removed the top three in the opening session to leave the side reeling at 48/3. However, Kanhaiya Wadhawan first stitched a brief 19-run partnership with captain Paras Dogra, who was removed by Basil Thampi, before adding a 55-run stand with Sahil Lotra. Wadhawan departed after scoring 48 as Nidheesh got his fourth wicket of the day.

Lotra and Lone Nasir steered J&K's innings further and took them to over 150-run mark. The former played a gritty knock of 35 off 125 balls before losing his wicket to Aditya Sarwate. In the final session of the day, Nidheesh completed his five-wicket haul with the scalp of Nasir, who made a vital contribution of 44 in the late middle order.