India, Oct. 5 -- Mukesh Choudhary had been Rest of India's wrecker-in-chief in the first innings, with a five-wicket haul. In the second, he couldn't find his rhythm with the new ball. He went for 29 runs in his first five overs as Jammu and Kashmir, chasing 279 on the day-four pitch at the Sher-i-Kashmir Stadium in Srinagar, looked to settle early.

Mukesh Kumar, who had opened the bowling alongside him, had conceded 12 runs in his first 18 balls. Akash Deep replaced him and made an instant impact, removing Qamran Iqbal. Mukesh then walked up to stand-in captain Sarfaraz Khan and pleaded animatedly to be brought back.

Sarfaraz relented and gave him a second spell. On the fifth ball, Mukesh gave Shubham Pundir an lbw scare, but the batte...