- India
- Mar 03
J&K clinch maiden Ranji Trophy title
• Jammu & Kashmir clinched its maiden Ranji Trophy title defeating Karnataka in Hubballi on February 28.
• The final match ended in a draw, but Jammu & Kashmir won by virtue of having the first-innings lead.
• Having amassed 584 in the first innings, courtesy of a century by Shubham Pundir and a handful of fifties from others, J&K bowled out the mighty Karnataka for 293.
• Deciding not to enforce the follow-on, J&K batted again and scored 342/4.
• They declared soon after lunch, and both captains opted to shake hands.
• Opener Qamran Iqbal’s second first-class hundred (160 not out) and Sahil Lotra’s maiden first-class ton (101 not out) added sheen to the historical occasion.
• Pacer Auqib Nabi was a towering presence in the final as he has been throughout this season, taking five wickets for the seventh time this season.
• He has more than 100 wickets in the past two seasons combined.
• It was 67 years ago when Jammu and Kashmir made their debut in India’s premier domestic competition, which is now 92 years old.
• In the past, J&K had entered the quarterfinals in 2013-14, 2019-20 and 2024-25 seasons but succumbed to a train of cataclysmic events and their own frayed nerves.
Brief history of Ranji Trophy
• He proposed the idea for a national cricket championship, along with a drawing of the trophy — a Grecian urn that is in use to this day — at a meeting of the BCCI held in Shimla in July 1934.
• Initially named The Cricket Championship of India, the then Maharaja of Patiala, Bhupendra Singh, promptly agreed to finance the trophy and suggested that it be named after the legendary Sir Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji Jadeja, Maharaja of Nawanagar, popularly known as ‘Ranji’, who had passed away the previous year.
• And the Ranji Trophy came into being.
• Ranjitsinhji was the first Indian cricketer to have played international cricket. He played all his cricket in England representing Cambridge University, Sussex and the England cricket team.
• In the inaugural Ranji Trophy match, Madras took on Mysore at the Chepauk Ground. Madras thrashed the visitors by an innings and 23 runs, with the game finishing five minutes before the close of play on the first day itself.