From the valley to the pinnacle of domestic cricket — the J & K story

The situation: completely picturesque. The folks: heat and cordial. The tradition: vibrant. However that’s exactly the place the niceties dissolve. Confront them on an unforgiving 22-yard strip, and the heat hardens into will, the grins fade into steely stare-downs.

Ask home powerhouse and 42-time champion Mumbai. Ask two-time titleholder Rajasthan. Ask two-time winner Hyderabad. Ask five-time titlist Madhya Pradesh. Ask former title holder, Bengal. Now embody eight-time powerhouse Karnataka.

Every will narrate a unique battle. Completely different periods seized. Defining moments wrested away. But the conclusion stays chillingly constant — Jammu and Kashmir are fierce, relentless, and unapologetically critical about their craft. Now perched on the summit of the nation’s premier red-ball competitors — the Ranji Trophy — they stand tall, composed, and commanding after overpowering Karnataka’s celebrated batting unit within the last. From the valleys to the top of Indian home cricket, they’ve earned their place on the high. Each exceptional journey wants heroes — and for J & Ok, they’ve are available numbers. Meet the protagonists. The lads on the sphere, and simply as importantly off it, who’ve crafted this story to close perfection.

Auqib Nabi: The Baramulla Categorical has been central to J & Ok’s historic triumph. Over the previous two seasons, 2024-25 and 2025-26, he has derailed one aspect after one other, establishing himself because the spearhead of a workforce that had by no means beforehand reached the highest 4 in any competitors.

Auqib Nabi completed because the main wicket-taker with 60 scalps.
| Photograph Credit score:
Ok. MURALI KUMAR

He hasn’t merely been efficient; he has remodeled J & Ok’s bowling identification. Within the last at Hubballi, Nabi rose to the grandest stage. He dismissed achieved Take a look at batters Ok.L. Rahul and Karun Nair with deliveries of the very best high quality — each pitched on a probing size, kissed the seam, and formed away simply sufficient. Rahul might solely feather a faint edge, whereas Nair’s furnishings disturbed as he stood momentarily shocked. Nabi wasn’t executed. He went on to say three extra wickets, together with the house aspect’s lone centurion, Mayank Agarwal and main run-scorer R. Smaran, successfully breaking the spine of Karnataka’s resistance.

This season, Nabi completed because the main wicket-taker with 60 scalps. Throughout the 2 campaigns mixed, he has amassed a staggering 104 wickets. On this interval, he has registered 13 five-wicket hauls in simply 18 matches. He turned the primary J & Ok bowler to say 50-plus wickets in a single Ranji season and the primary from the state to high the match’s bowling charts. Notably, he had already set a benchmark the earlier yr with 44 wickets.

In 2025-26 alone, Nabi recorded eight five-wicket hauls — the joint-most by any pacer in a first-class season in India. Solely Maurice Tate (1926-27) and Ron Oxenham (1935-36) have matched that mark.

Such sustained excellence has inevitably sparked widespread clamour from stalwarts of the sport, calling for his inclusion within the Nationwide aspect — and rightly so.

Sunil Kumar: The Silent Warrior has offered unwavering help from the opposite finish. The 26-year-old left-arm seamer was a research in management all through the season, working with precision, endurance and self-discipline. His capacity to land the ball in probing areas, over after over, created the strain that allowed breakthroughs to observe.

Whereas the highlight usually tilted elsewhere, Sunil’s quiet spells squeezed opposition batters into errors. He concluded the marketing campaign with 31 wickets, together with two five-wicket hauls — numbers that replicate each consistency and craft. Understated in manner, Sunil has gone about his work with out fanfare. If one finish introduced the thunder, the opposite ensured the storm by no means relented.

Abdul Samad: The Center-Order Mauler’s immense talent, vary, and potential flickered in phases. This season, it burned brilliant. If J & Ok had the arsenal to dismantle sides with the ball, they required a pillar with the bat to stack up the runs. Samad answered that decision.

Typically branded a white-ball participant, the 24-year-old reshaped that notion within the lately concluded marketing campaign. His red-ball recreation displayed maturity, endurance, and a willingness to graft — qualities that added depth and assurance to the batting order.

Samad completed because the workforce’s highest run-scorer, amassing 748 runs in 10 matches at a formidable common of 57.53, together with a century and 5 half-centuries. Within the last, his composed 61 off 104 deliveries performed a vital function in powering J & Ok to a formidable 584.

Past the numbers, it was his temperament that stood out. Batting within the center order, Samad offered stability in testing phases, absorbing strain and developing important partnerships. Whether or not within the high-stakes last or in knockout clashes in opposition to Madhya Pradesh within the quarterfinal and Bengal within the semifinal, he delivered when it mattered most.

Paras Dogra: The Veteran and Chief’s journey within the Ranji Trophy started in 2002. Having represented Himachal Pradesh and Puducherry over a profession spanning greater than twenty years, the seasoned campaigner lastly realised a long-cherished dream — lifting the Ranji Trophy as captain of Jammu & Kashmir.

He’ll endlessly be remembered as the primary skipper to information J & Ok to a Ranji title. At 41, Dogra introduced way over runs to the desk. His management, calm authority, and huge home expertise supplied course and steadiness to a aspect scripting historical past. In tense phases, his presence steadied the dressing room; in defining moments, his bat did the speaking.

Dogra ended the season as J & Ok’s second-highest run-scorer, compiling 637 runs in 10 matches at a mean of 42.46, with two centuries and 4 half-centuries. This season additionally marked a private milestone — Dogra crossed the ten,000-run mark within the Ranji Trophy, turning into solely the second batter after former India opener Wasim Jaffer to achieve that landmark within the match’s historical past.

Qamran Iqbal notched up 100 within the last.
| Photograph Credit score:
Ok. MURALI KUMAR

Qamran Iqbal: The Blaster’s look within the last was dramatic. Having featured within the earlier rounds, he was not a part of the squad for the knockouts. However a last-minute damage to common opener Shubham Khajuria compelled the workforce administration to fly him to Hubballi on the eve of the title conflict — a sudden name that handed him a historic alternative.

Qamran responded emphatically. Within the second essay, he produced a monumental unbeaten 160 off 311 deliveries, after his aspect was decreased to 31 for 2. It was an innings of endurance and authority, one which knocked out Karnataka.

Throughout the match, Qamran amassed 471 runs in six matches at a mean of 58.87, together with two centuries and two fifties. However it was that defining knock within the last — arriving as a last-minute substitute — that can completely be written in J & Ok’s cricketing folklore.

Shubham Pundir: The Grinder was one other important cog within the J & Ok wheel. Heading into Hubballi, his place within the XI was below scrutiny following modest returns within the quarterfinal and semifinal in opposition to Madhya Pradesh and Bengal.

Pundir answered — with runs. Strolling in at No. 3, he crafted a resolute 121 within the first innings of the ultimate, anchoring the batting effort and steering J & Ok to a mammoth complete. It was an innings constructed on endurance, self-discipline, and dedication, laying a rock-solid basis for what would turn into a title-winning efficiency. He was rightly adjudged Participant of the Match for his defining century. Within the 2025-26 Ranji season, Pundir collected 330 runs in 4 matches, together with two a whole bunch, at a mean of 47.14 — a grinder who delivered when it mattered most.

Sahil Lotra: The Center- and Decrease-Order Punisher was as decisive as the opposite headline-makers. Coming into the summit conflict, he rose magnificently.

Within the first innings, Sahil struck an important 72, offering useful momentum from the center order and serving to push the entire to imposing heights. If that was necessary, what adopted was extraordinary. Within the second, he compiled a commanding unbeaten 101. Alongside Qamran, he stitched an unbroken 197-run partnership for the fifth wicket, a stand that flattened Karnataka’s hopes and sealed the title.

Abid Mushtaq: The All-Spherical Engine ensured that J & Ok chugged alongside merrily to a historic Ranji Trophy triumph. An all-rounder within the truest sense, Mushtaq offered the steadiness each champion aspect requires — regular runs within the decrease middle-order and well timed breakthroughs with the ball.

This season, he amassed 445 runs in 10 matches at a mean of 37.08, together with a century and a half-century. With the ball, he was equally reliable, claiming 20 wickets at a mean of 31.75 and sustaining a tidy economic system price of three.20. His five-wicket haul throughout the marketing campaign underlined his capacity to affect video games with extra than simply management. Mushtaq’s constant presence throughout disciplines ensured J & Ok had been by no means one-dimensional. His all-round influence stitched the marketing campaign collectively, enjoying a vital half in remodeling a dream right into a landmark achievement.

Ajay Sharma: The Monk, Mentor and Motivator all the time remained a step forward of the opponent(s). A stalwart, who scored over 10,000 First Class runs and picked up essential wickets throughout his enjoying profession, the top coach introduced a treasure trove of expertise to the workforce — but selected to guide quietly from behind the scenes, observing, guiding, and fine-tuning each element.

Recognized for his strict self-discipline, Ajay demanded focus and dedication from each participant. Initially, the squad discovered his strategies exacting, even daunting. However as belief grew, so did their efficiency. His mixture of rigorous preparation, tactical acumen, and perception in his gamers has been instrumental in shaping his workforce into the formidable power they’re right this moment.

Krishna Kumar: The Miracle Maker was instrumental in shaping the bowling unit into the potent power it has turn into. A lot of the transformation occurred away from the highlight — in lengthy pre-season periods that started as early because the All India Buchi Babu match in Chennai final August.

It’s no coincidence that bowlers like Nabi, Sunil, Yudhvir Singh and others have developed right into a deadly pack. Behind their sharp spells lies meticulous planning, readability of roles, and relentless preparation, due to the previous Rajasthan pacer’s affect because the bowling coach.

In a chat with the The Hindu throughout the Ranji season, he underlined what units the aspect aside. “Unity is the important thing. We’re bonding very properly. If somebody makes a mistake, we don’t criticise them, we encourage them. The dressing room setting is implausible. Earlier, some small elements had been ignored, however now every part is skilled. Even a small misfield is mentioned in conferences. That has made everybody accountable. We’re ticking most bins, and that’s making an enormous distinction.” These phrases now resonate louder than ever.

Dishant Yagnik: The Visionary boldly predicted throughout the Buchi Babu match that his aspect would carry the trophy. That prophecy has come true.

However Yagnik’s imaginative and prescient stretches past one crown. “Sure, and I’ll stand by it. I actually consider that JKCA would be the first workforce in Indian home cricket to win all three codecs in a single season — Ranji Trophy, Vijay Hazare, and Syed Mushtaq Ali. Name it a imaginative and prescient, a dream, or a declare — however it’s rooted in what I’ve seen: the gamers’ mindset, the administration’s help, and the general angle. When a workforce needs to win that badly, victory isn’t too far-off”.

Daring phrases — however after this historic marketing campaign, few would doubt the assumption that fuels this dressing room.