Published: February 27, 2026 at 6:36 pm
Jammu & Kashmir are a day away from scripting history as they have virtually assured themselves of a maiden Ranji Trophy title. On the penultimate day of the five-day final against Karnataka, Jammu & Kashmir drove home their advantage in no uncertain terms. By stumps on Day four, the visitors had reached 186 for four and taken a massive 477 run lead at the KSCA Stadium in Hubli on Friday.
After Auqib Nabi bagged his seventh five-wicket haul to reach 60 wickets in the season, Qamran Iqbal steadied the Jammu & Kashmir innings to remain unbeaten on 94 and squash any hopes of Karnataka coming back into the game. By the end of the play, the Karnataka players seemed to have resigned to their fate as they went about the motions without looking threatening at all.
Conceding a mammoth 291-run lead, Karnataka looked to stage a comeback of sorts. Prasidh Krishna injected life into the proceedings as he bowled Yawer Hassan (1) and then Vijaykumar Vyshak got rid of first innings centurion Shubham Pundir (4) to rock the Jammu & Kashmir boat. At 11 for two, the visitors had a fight on hand but Qamran, who had missed out on the action in the first innings when he fell for six, joined the party. Along with skipper Paras Dogra (16), he added 61 for the third wicket to steady the innings.
Qamran squashes Karnataka’s hopes
Dogra and the unconventional Qamran quashed Karnataka’s hopes. Qamran rode his luck when Patil’s outswinger hit the top of off stump fairly hard, but the bails did not dislodge. Flown in for this game after Shubham Khajuria was ruled out on match eve, Qamran wasn’t always covering the line of the ball. He often went leg side, cleared his left leg, and depended on his hand-eye coordination to score runs but the technique worked just right.
Qamran struck 11 fours and a six to remain unbeaten on 94, and will eye a century on the final day. After Dogra was bowled by Prasidh, Abdul Samad joined forces with Qamran to propel J&K. Samad and Qamran added 73 runs for the fourth wicket, ensuring the visitors lost just one wicket in the second session.
Trailing by a mammoth 364 runs, Karnataka required someone to hang around with centurion Mayank Agarwal. Kruthik Krishna managed to do that for a while, adding 79 runs for the sixth wicket off 175 balls. But one contentious lbw decision, and it all unravelled for the hosts. Kruthik fell for 36, and with the second new ball, Auqib ran amok, picking up 5 for 54 to bowl Karnataka out for 293 and secure a mammoth 291-run lead.
Nabi becomes highest wicket-taker of the season
From around the wicket, Sunil went wide of the crease and angled the ball into Vidhyadhar Patil, who was forced to play the line and ended up managing a thin edge to the wicketkeeper. With regular wicketkeeper Kanhaiya Wadhawan off the field, Mayank got a reprieve when he edged Nabi to the right of the stand-in wicketkeeper Dikshant Kundal, who failed to hang on. The resultant four brought up Mayank’s 150, but soon enough, Nabi was back among the wickets. He got the ball to nip away from Agarwal around off stump, and with the batter on the move, he missed and got hit on the pad.
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While the on-field umpire did not give that out, the decision was overturned via DRS as Agarwal walked back for a sensational 160. Vyshak then played a few agricultural shots, but Nabi struck for the fifth time when he had Shikhar Shetty caught in front, a decision requiring the intervention of the third umpire again.
It was Nabi’s seventh five-wicket haul this season, and in the process, he also became the highest wicket-taker of the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy with 60 wickets to his credit. In the process, Nabi became the second fast bowler since Jaydev Unadkat in the 2019-20 season to achieve the landmark.
Prasidh slammed Yudhvir down the track but was dismissed for 4, caught at mid-on, as Karnataka were bowled out for 293.
SCOREBOARD
Jammu & Kashmir (1st Innings): 584.
Karnataka (1st Innings): KL Rahul c Wadhawan b Nabi 13, Mayank Agarwal lbw Nabi 160, Devdutt Padikkal c Samad b Kumar 11, Karun Nair b Nabi 0, R Smaran c Wadhawan b Nabi 0, Shreyas Gopal lbw Yudhvir 27, Kruthik Krishna lbw Lotra 36, Vidyadhar Patil c sub (Kundal) bt Kumar 11, Vijaykuamr Vyshak (not out) 17, Shikhar Shetty lbw Nabi 0, Prasidh Krishna c Kumar b Yudhvir 4; Extras: (LB3, NB11) 14. Total: (All out in 93.3 overs) 293.
Fall of wickets: 1-27 2-56, 3-57, 4-57, 5-162, 6-241,7-256, 8-278, 9-288.
Bowling: Auqib Nabi 23-7-54-5, Sunil Kumar 19-6-51-2, Yudhvir Singh 14.3-3-55-2, Abid Mushtaq 23-2-75-0, Sahil Lotra 12-1-50-1, Abdul Samad 2-0-5-0.
Jammu & Kashmir (2nd Innings): Qamran Iqbal (batting) 94, Yawer Hassan b Prasidh 1, Shubham Pundir c sub (Shrijith) b Vyshak 4, Paras Dogra b Prasidh 16, Abdul Samad c Vyshak b Gopal 32, Sahil Lotra (batting) 16; Extras: (B17, LB4, W2) 23. Total: (For Four wickets in 57 overs) 186.
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-11, 3-72, 4-145.
Bowling: Vijaykumar Vyshak 10-1-30-1, Prasidh Krishna 12-0-42-2, Vdyadhar Patil 9-0-39-0, Shikhar Shetty 10-3-27-0, Shreyas Gopal 16-6-27-1.
