SRINAGAR: With Qamran Iqbal hitting a classy century on Saturday morning, Jammu & Kashmir is standing on the cusp of scripting history in Ranji cricket. February 28 might turn out to be the red-letter day for the sport in the region as J&K are all set to win the Ranji Trophy for the very first time in their history.
J&K’s lead was now 501 runs on day 5 till this report was being filed at 11:30 AM.
Right from winning the toss, Jammu & Kashmir have dominated the summit clash against Karnataka at the KSCA Ground in Hubballi. J&K took a 291-run lead on Day 4 after pacer Auqib Nabi took his seventh fifer of the ongoing Ranji 2025-26 season. Mayank Agarwal led a lone fight for Karnataka, but after his dismissal for 160, Karnataka’s innings folded up, and J&K took a significant advantage.
Karnataka pacers Prasidh Krishna and Vijaykumar Vyshak removed Yawer Hassan and Shubham Pundir before the lunch break on Day 4, and J&K were rocked early. However, Qamran Iqbal’s century ensured that the side didn’t suffer more hiccups as he led the batting charge from one end.
Earlier, J&K had posted 584 runs in the first innings while Karnataka got bundled out for 293. The situation would have been all the more abysmal for Karnataka had Mayank not played a knock of 160 against all odds. Auqib Nabi led the charge for J&K, taking yet another fifer, extending his wicket tally to 60 in the 2025-26 Ranji season.
