J&K outplay K’taka to clinch maiden title

Hubballi: Jammu and Kashmir scripted an extraordinary tale of resilience in Indian domestic cricket to claim their maiden Ranji Trophy title by out-batting traditional heavyweights Karnataka here on Saturday, capping a glorious season that saw them tackle favourites and fellow upstarts with equal tact and confidence.

The bald facts will tell that Jammu and Kashmir held the eight-time former champions to a draw punctuated by a 291-run first innings lead to lock the crown, an advantage they extended to 633 runs after scoring 342/4 in their second innings on the fifth and final day here.

Opener Qamran Iqbal’s second first-class hundred (160 not out) and Sahil Lotra’s maiden first-class ton (101 not out) added sheen to the historical occasion. But the day was always meant to be more than just cold numbers, it was meant to tell the story of determination and the power of a dream that was more than six decades in the making.

It was 67 years ago when Jammu and Kashmir made their debut in India’s premier domestic competition, which is now 92 years old. In the past, J&K had entered the quarterfinals in 2013-14, 2019-20 and 2024-25 seasons but succumbed to a train of cataclysmic events and their own frayed nerves.

But over the last five days here at the KSCA Stadium, they hardly resembled first-time final entrants, out-maneuvering a side brimming with India stars with consummate ease.

That Karnataka failed to take a single wicket on the fifth day after J&K resumed from overnight 186 for four will reinforce the dominance of the tourists in the final. It was a team effort in its truest sense that led the lesser fancied side to the title.

Pacer Auqib Nabi was a towering presence in the final as he has been throughout this season, taking five wickets for the seventh time this season. Lotra made a fifty and hundred, skipper Paras Dogra, who became the second batter to go past 10,000 Ranji Trophy runs, while Yawer Hassan, Abdul Samad and Kanhaiya Wadhawan made one half-century each.

They are not household names, perhaps, even in their own state. But this humble bunch produced a magnificent joint effort across 10 Ranji matches in the season that would put a blush on Atlas’ face.

After the current season began in silence in Srinagar following a whipping by Mumbai, Jammu and Kashmir’s glorious journey towards the title clash unfurled like a slow-breaking wave. And nothing encapsulated J&K’s spirit better than the semifinal against Bengal at Kalyani.

Shubham Pundir scored a classy hundred, the foundation for J&K’s massive first innings total of 584 and the visitors hardly let the advantage slip. Karnataka themselves had shown remarkable consistency since the beginning of the season, and a ninth Ranji Trophy title was taken for granted.

Brief scores:

Jammu & Kashmir 584 all out & 342/4 dec (Qamran Iqbal 160*, Sahil Lotra 101*; Prasidh Krishna 2-42) beat Karnataka 293 all out (Mayank Agarwal 160, Kruthik Krishna 36; Auqib Nabi Dar 5-54) with first-innings lead.