Smaran's fighting century rescues RoI, and grows lead to 265

Ravichandran Smaran, battling with the tail, burgled a century for Rest of India (RoI) on day three of their Irani Cup game against Jammu & Kashmir (J&K). In the company of No. 10 Mukesh Choudhary, he had already dragged their lead to 237 when J&K's Umran Nazir came on to bowl. Nazir angled it back into the left-hander. He struck Smaran on the pads. The batter was given out on 104. Then, the no-ball buzzer rang out loud: Smaran had been reprieved, and would stay unbeaten till stumps.

By the end of play, RoI extended their lead to 265 runs, two wickets still left to play with. Smaran walked back unbeaten on 126 off 131 balls. In total, J&K bowled 21 no-balls in the innings, and Nazir 22 in the game by himself. If the previous day's play had ended with J&K securing a crucial 41-run first-innings lead thanks to their lower-order comeback, this one ended with them letting RoI back into the contest with their unforced errors.

RoI were 25 for 1 overnight, and returned to bat with the game in fast-forward. The pitch had assisted pace and bounce, suiting J&K's battery of fast bowlers, who mostly operate in the sub-130kph range. But when play resumed, the pitch had largely flattened out.

Nazir bowled from one end, and Sunil Kumar from the other. They quickly adjusted their lines to bowl back-of-a-length and outside off stump. At the end of an attritional first session against J&K's defensive bowling, RoI opener Sanat Sangwan had brought up a 141-ball half-century, and kept his side in the contest on 120 for 2.