Karnataka toil as J&K extend batting marathon

Half-centuries by Paras Dogra, Kanhaiya Wadhawan and Sahil Lotra ensured another tiring day in the middle for Karnataka as Jammu & Kashmir stretched their first innings to 527/6 at the end of the second day's play in the Ranji Trophy 2026/27 final in Hubballi, on Wednesday.

Karnataka had started the proceedings by taking the second new ball - which was delayed by seven overs on the opening day - and Vijaykumar Vyshak did enough to make the cherry talk. The pacer was operating in probing channels much closer to the off-stump on Wednesday, but even as he was hard to put away - delivering four successive maidens - for the 48 minutes of play, there was no success to show. Abdul Samad and Shubham Pundir, who were building on that overnight century stand, were about to see off the dangers of the new ball when the southpaw flicked Vidyadhar Patil's delivery on the legs straight to the square leg fielder.

In the next over, Prasidh got one to nip away and take the edge of Samad's bat to the keeper, sending both the set batters back in the first hour and reducing Jammu & Kashmir to 307 for 4. It was that one moment in the match so far, possibly after 24 hours, that Karnataka finally had their tail up, but they failed to do much more to completely seize the momentum.

Paras Dogra, who walked out to resume his innings after the fall of Samad's wicket - having retired hurt yesterday - dug in for 144 minutes in the company of Kanhaiya Wadhawan. Dogra was peppered with short pitched deliveries and he looked just as uncomfortable taking them on today as he was on the opening day. A tentative poke through the backward point region for a boundary even prompted a few words from KV Aneesh, the substitute fielder at silly point, to which Dogra retorted with a helmet-butt.

Tempers had started to flare up by then, with Krishna repeatedly staring down Wadhawan. While Dogra struggled to get going, the J&K wicketkeeper-batter had taken charge of keeping the scoring rate up, by frequently gliding the ball past the cordon of slips and gully fielders for boundaries, much to Prasidh's frustration. He became the fourth batter to go past the half-century mark in the innings and stitched a 110-run stand for the fifth wicket, during the course of which the visitors went past the 400-run mark. Wadhawan did survive a stumping chance when Kruthik Krishna failed to collect the ball cleanly, allowing the batter ample time to return to the crease. But that life didn't last too long as three runs later, he dabbed a ball towards KL Rahul, who took a juggling catch.

By then, Dogra was more comfortable in the middle, especially against the spinners, taking on Shreyas Gopal who was the least threatening of the bowlers. Nonetheless, his struggles against pacers continued. While he was batting on 65, Vidyadhar Patil's rising delivery hit him on the grille of his helmet while he was attempting to duck. The ball rolled back and was heading towards the stumps when Dogra put his foot out to try and stop the ball. The ball hit the stumps, but the bails didn't come off. 20 balls later, the ball rolled back again and took off the bails this time, while playing a defensive shot off the backfoot against Shreyas Gopal.

With J&K reduced to 471 for 6, and all the frontline batters back in the pavilion just before Tea, another opportunity opened up for Karnataka to go on the offensive and run through the lower order - to contain J&K within their targeted score of 650. But with an old ball, a slow pitch and tired bowlers to work with, the task wasn't as easy. And Sahil Lotra and Abid Mushtaq gave ample signs that they were not in a hurry.

As the day progressed and the innings stretched, bodies also started to tire. It showed up in erratic lines, loss of pace, and the numerous byes that started piling up. Lotra and Mushtaq took advantage of the situation and carried forward the good work done by the top order, to add quick runs before the end of day's play. The duo added 56 runs before bad light, and subsequent rain, brought an abrupt end to the action on Day 2. Lotra went to stumps unbeaten on 57, becoming the sixth player to cross the 50-run mark in the innings.

Three of Karnataka's five frontline bowling options - Patil, Gopal and Shetty - have already conceded over 100 runs each. The abrupt end will allow Karnataka's bowlers some respite with an opportunity to come at J&K's lower order with a bit more fire on Thursday. However, this time, they will have to contend with an old ball, still 31 overs away from the third new ball.

Brief Scores: Jammu & Kashmir 527/6 (Shubham Pundir 121, Yawer Hassan 88; Prasidh Krishna 3-90) vs Karnataka