Jammu And Kashmir On The Cusp Of Winning Maiden Ranji Trophy Title

Jammu and Kashmir will etch history on Saturday as it is set to lift its maiden Ranji Trophy, spurred by brilliant performances from sensational pacer Auqib Nabi Dar and opener Qamran Iqbal. They dominated a star-studded Karnataka team that has the likes of senior national pros KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Prasidh Krishna and Devdutt Padikkal. J&K's pole position on Friday was guaranteed by a splendid performance by Nabi, who took another five wickets to stop Karnataka at 293 after scoring a mammoth 574 in the first inning. Riding on an unbeaten 94 from 24-year-old Qamran Iqbal in the second inning, J&K has taken an unassailable lead of 477 runs with six wickets in hand and Iqbal just six runs away from a stroke-filled century.

J&K is likely to play through the first session of the last day on Saturday and declare, and then try to force a win banking on the Auqib Nabi-led bowling unit and spinners Lotra and Abid Mushtaq.

But even if the team is not able to clean up Karnataka in the second inning, J&K will still bag the trophy on account of its first-inning lead. Neither bad weather nor a strong performance by Karnataka would change the outcome of the match. The die is cast; J&K is lifting the trophy for sure.

The only interest in the match would be if Nabi utilises another chance to come hard at the opposition and add to his 60-wicket haul this season. His first-inning haul against Karnataka includes his seventh five-wicket spell, averaging around 12.54 and standout figures like 12/110 vs Madhya Pradesh in the quarters. Nabi had earlier overtaken Uttarakhand's Mayank Mishra (previously 52 wickets) to become the leading wicket-taker in the tournament. Others like Bengal's spinner Shahbaz Ahmed and Karnataka's S Gopal are now far behind the medium-fast pacer in wicket count. Nabi's ability to swing and seam both new and old ball makes him a strong contender for India's Test team. Many Indian cricketing greats have pined for him to fill up as a third seamer for India's white-ball team. Because of his back-to-back brilliant performances in the Ranji seasons, he won an IPL contract of Rs 8 crore recently. But it is the long format that Nabi has set his eyes on. Cricket pundits believe he is best suited for Test cricket since he can bowl long spells without dropping pace or movement.

Meanwhile, in the heart of Hubballi's Stadium in Karnataka, the J&K team is set to celebrate its title win and silence doubters. Nabi, Qamran, Samad and Pundir are likely to inspire a new crop of budding cricketers.

Topics mentioned in this article

Cricket Jammu and Kashmir Ranji Trophy