It would have been a sense of deja vu for Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) watching left-arm spinner Abid Mushtaq run through the Pondicherry batting line-up, determined to secure a seemingly improbable win for his team.
With 87 to win in two days and a session, anyone would have thought Pondicherry was all set to wrap up the match. But Abid didn’t think so.
“When I went onto the ground, I told my bowling coach, ‘This score is a far cry for them [as the ball was turning sharply]. ‘Don’t worry, I will show you (what I mean),’” he said after his team’s 19-run win over Pondicherry on the third day of their Ranji Trophy match here on Sunday.
After the third session on the second day, Pondicherry captain Rohit Damodaran looked bewildered, explaining to a support staff that the incoming deliveries off the left-arm spinners had been hard to face.
Abid concurs that the arm-ball has been his major weapon on turners. “When I hold the ball tight, the ball goes straight. That is difficult to play on turning tracks. I work on the arm-ball for almost 15-20 minutes in every practice session.”
In the third session on the second day, Pondicherry began its chase and was reduced to 35 for seven, with Abid claiming five for 17 to complete his second ten-wicket match haul. He had caused a turnaround for his team and got it pumped up with belief.
After all, J&K had been bowled out for 106 within the first session on the first day, Pondicherry had managed a 66-run first-innings lead, and J&K was again bowled out for 152 for Pondicherry to get only 87 to win. The odds were dead set against J&K.
Incidentally, Abid’s first ten-wicket match haul had also come in a similar situation and he had helped his team achieve a seemingly improbable win.
When Vidarbha was to get 141 to win in around one-and-a-half days in the third round 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 each over!
