India has found a new face of cricket, whose stories will be written in golden words for years. A bunch of players coming from an area that is known for its vulnerability have made their land, their identity, proud. A new generation will love to see dreams and will learn to keep the hope alive from these Jammu and Kashmir superstars.
In 92 years of the Ranji Trophy and 80 years of Independence and 67 years of Jammu and Kashmir’s cricketing history, India has found a fresh champion. Paras Dogra led the team to take the crown of India into their own hands. Auqib Nabi Dar, the fine wine changed the rhythm of the script with his furious run-up and man of the match Shubham Pundir added the lyrics to it with his fine touch. Defeating stalwarts Karnataka and changing the history for life time, Jammu and Kashmir has become the Ranji champions of 2025-26.
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Match summary
As Shubham Pundir has built a strong foundation with 121 runs, Jammu and Kashmir batters never looked back after that. Captain Dogra, Abdul Samad, Yawer Hassan, and Kanhaiya Wadhawan scored 60+ runs each and led their team to post a massive 584 runs on board. As it was not heavy for Karnataka, J&K bowlers took the bones out of them by taking four wickets in just 57 runs, in which Auqib Nabi alone took three wickets.
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Nabi ended up taking five wickets in that innings and completed his 60-wicket haul in just 10 matches. Karnataka got all out in 293 runs, and Jammu and Kashmir came again to enjoy their heart out in this match. They kept batting and went on to score 342 runs, losing just four wickets. Qamran Iqbal joined the party and hammered 160 runs in 311 balls. The match ended up as a draw, as Jammu and Kashmir had taken a massive first innings lead of 291 runs, and they won the authority on the trophy for this year.
Auqib Nabi, a star in making
India has found a fine wine in the name of Auqib Nabi. Taking 60 wickets in one season, he has grabbed headlines. Sourav Ganguly also requested Indian selectors to have a eye on him and to give him a chance in England for this summer. Auqib Nabi will join the Delhi Capitals squad soon. After a stunning red ball performance, how he will perform with the white ball will be a key thing to watch out for.
