Asif Iqbal
Srinagar, Feb 25 : Jammu and Kashmir tightened their grip on the Ranji Trophy Elite 2025-26 final, posting a massive 527/6 at stumps on Day 2 against Karnataka at the KSCA Hubli Cricket Ground.
Building on their strong overnight score of 284/2, J&K, as per GNS, converted a solid foundation into a towering first-innings total through disciplined batting and crucial lower-order contributions.
The second morning began with Karnataka, led by captain Devdutt Padikkal, attempting a comeback. Their pacers extracted swing and bounce early on and were rewarded in the 98th over when overnight centurion Shubham Pundir was dismissed for a magnificent 121, an innings adorned with 12 fours and two sixes. He was caught at mid-wicket off Vidyadhar Patil, ending a knock that had anchored J&K’s dominance.
In the following over, Abdul Samad, who had earlier accelerated the scoring, fell for 61 to Prasidh Krishna, becoming the pacer’s third wicket of the innings. At that stage, Karnataka sensed an opening with J&K four down but well past the 300-run mark.
Captain Paras Dogra, who had retired hurt on Day 1 after taking blows to the body, returned to the crease and played a stabilising role. Along with wicketkeeper-batter Kanhaiya Wadhawan, he rebuilt the innings with a crucial partnership that pushed J&K beyond 350 and kept Karnataka at bay. Wadhawan counter-attacked effectively, rotating strike and punishing loose deliveries. He rode his luck during his 70-run knock, surviving a dropped catch by Vyshak and a missed stumping opportunity off the left-arm spinner before eventually falling to a juggling catch at slip.
Dogra continued to marshal the innings but was dismissed just before tea, undone by a well-disguised googly from Shreyas Gopal.
Lower down the order, Sahil Lotra played a vital hand, scoring a composed 57 off 93 balls, striking seven boundaries to further frustrate the opposition. He found solid support from Abid Mushtaq, who remained unbeaten on 20 off 31 deliveries. The pair added an unbroken 56-run partnership for the seventh wicket, ensuring J&K surged past the 500-run mark.
The day also witnessed high drama during the second session. A heated exchange broke out between Dogra and Karnataka substitute fielder KV Aneesh after a boundary in the 101st over. The confrontation drew immediate intervention from senior Karnataka batter Mayank Agarwal, while captain Devdutt Padikkal was seen in discussion with the on-field umpires. The situation was brought under control without further escalation, though it remained a major talking point of the day’s play.
Adverse weather conditions curtailed the final session. Bad light halted proceedings with more than an hour left in the day, and although rain briefly stopped, conditions did not improve sufficiently for play to resume.
At stumps on Day 2, Jammu and Kashmir stood at 527/6, firmly in command in their first Ranji Trophy final appearance in over six decades. Karnataka, eight-time champions, now face the daunting task of responding to a mammoth first-innings total to keep their title hopes alive. (GNS)
