Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has one hand on the coveted Ranji Trophy. The first-time finalists have dominated 8-time champions Karnataka in their backyard. For a team that hadn’t even reached the semifinal in India’s premier red-ball tournament, J&K are one day away from lifting the trophy at the KSCA Cricket Ground in Hubli.
After the end of the fourth day’s play in the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy Final, J&K lead Karnataka by a whopping 477 runs. After batting for nearly 7 sessions, J&K skittled Karnataka for just 293 runs. The Devdutt Padikkal-led side never looked like matching the 584 first innings posted, but after the third day, they were 220/5.
Auqib Nabi enters Ranji Trophy history books
Former captain Mayank Agarwal was leading the charge with an unbeaten 130. Auqib Nabi had already done the damage, claiming the wickets of KL Rahul, Karun Nair, and Smaran Ravichandran. But he was far from done. After taking the second new ball, Nabi sent Agarwal packing for 160.
In the next over, he claimed a 5-wicket haul by trapping Shikhar Shetty in front of the wicket. It was Nabi’s 60th wicket of the season. The right-arm pacer has become just the third pacer, after Dodda Ganesh and Jaydev Unadkat, and sixth bowler, Harsh Dubey, Bishan Singh Bedi, and Ashutosh Aman, in Ranji Trophy’s 92-year history to claim 60 wickets in a single season.
Yudhvir Singh Charak claimed the last wicket of Prasidh Krishna to give J&K a massive 291-run first innings lead. With about 5 sessions left, all Paras Dogra’s team had to do was bat long enough to take the chance of a win away from Karnataka. And that’s exactly what has happened.
Opener Qamran Iqbal led the charge for J&K, ending the day unbeaten at 94 with the team finishing at 186/4 in 57 overs. Prasidh, Shreyas Gopal, and Vijaykumar Vyshak kept things tight but still couldn’t change the fate of the game. With 3 sessions left, Karnataka has to first take the 6 remaining wickets and then chase down a target of around 500. It’s safe to assume that J&K will script history tomorrow.
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