Right-hand batsman Paras Dogra's stroke-filled half-century helped Himachal Pradesh defeat Jammu & Kashmir by five wickets in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy here today.
Himachal restricted J & K to 133 for the loss of five wickets and then chased down the target with 11 balls to spare.
Opting to bat, J & K's young all-rounder Parveez Rasool top-scored with an unbeaten knock of 44. It was Rasool's unbeaten partnership of 36 runs for the sixth wicket with Nadeem Dar that helped the team reach a respectable total after struggling at 97 for five at one stage.
Off-spinner Gurvinder Singh was the best bowler for Himachal, returning impressive figures of 3 for 18.
Himachal were off to a poor start in their chase with captain Aakash Chopra being castled by medium pacer Ram Dayal for zero in the first over.
Dogra, alongwith Vikramjit Malik (30), stabilised the innings with a 33-run partnership for the second wicket before Malik was trapped in front by Rahil Sambyal.
Dogra's knock of 50 came off 44 balls and was studded with five fours and two sixes.
Dogra shared a 64-run partnership with Amit Kumar (21) for the third wicket and took Himachal closer to victory, before Dhruv Singh (12) completed the task in the 19th over.
Brief scores: Jammu & Kashmir 133/5 in 20 overs (Parveez Rasool 40, Shubham Khajuria 28, Gurvinder Singh 3/18).
Himachal Pradesh 136/5 in 18.1 overs (Paras Dogra 50, Vikramjit Malik 30, Rahil Sambyal 2/33).
