It took 67 years, but the wait is finally over. Jammu and Kashmir are Ranji Trophy champions.
The Paras Dogra-led side created history on Saturday after the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy final between Jammu and Kashmir and Karnataka ended in a draw at the KSCA Hubli Cricket Ground in Hubli. J&K clinched the title courtesy of their massive first-innings lead, outbatting the eight-time champions for nearly two and a half days.
With Dogra declaring second innings at 342/4, captains of both the teams agreed to a draw before the entire Jammu and Kashmir squad stormed onto the field to kickstart historic title celebrations.
On Sunday, J&K continued to pile on the runs, with opener Qamran Iqbal scoring a century after being included in the playing XI as a last-minute replacement for the injured Shubham Khajuria.
That the fate of the contest had effectively been sealed by the fourth day was evident from the fact that Karnataka did not use their pace spearheads, Prasidh Krishna and Vijaykumar Vyshak, for even a single over on the fifth morning. Karnataka captain Devdutt Padikkal rotated between Shreyas Gopal, Vidyadhar Patil and Shikhar Shetty, and even turned to part-timers KL Rahul and Karun Nair to go through the motions.
There was little urgency from the J&K overnight batters either, as they calmly negotiated the opening session without any fuss. Iqbal took 28 deliveries to move from 94 to 100, reaching the milestone with a boundary off spinner Gopal. In between, he successfully overturned a caught-behind decision while on 98 after opting for a review.
J&K scored 99 runs in 38 overs without losing a wicket in the first session of the day, taking lunch at 285/4 in 95 overs.
J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and BCCI president Mithun Manhas watched from the stands as Dogra’s men completed the formalities and etched their names in history.
Earlier, J&K had won the toss and elected to bat. A century from Shubham Pundir and half-centuries from Shail Lotra, Kanhaiya Wadhawan and Dogra powered them to a formidable 584 all out.
