Nabi hits season tally of 60 as J&K edge closer to historic win

Around half past two on Friday afternoon, a section of kids in the Hubballi stadium broke into an impromptu chant "Jeetega bhai Jeetega, Karnataka jeetega." It was an attempt to bring alive some hope, but the show of confidence by the local in Hubballi seemed to have come a bit too late. The optimism for the home team aside, Jammu & Kashmir had stretched their lead to 350 by then, with seven wickets still in hand on a surface that had no aid for the bowlers even mid-way through the penultimate day - all but sealing the fate of the Ranji Trophy final, with Jammu & Kashmir taking a massive first innings lead. On a surface where only 24 wickets had fallen over four days, that hope was basically asking for an implosion from the opposition or a miracle from the universal powers.

Earlier in the day, Mayank Agarwal and Kruthik Krishna continued to stretch Karnataka's resistance for nearly an hour, stretching the sixth wicket partnership to 69 runs. The bowlers didn't provide much threat with the old ball, and even as the Karnataka batters were quick to steal their runs, boundaries were not easy to come by against the defensive field.

To add to J&K's troubles, substitute 'keeper Dikshant Kundal endured a tough day behind the wickets, letting go off regulation takes. But a tricky decision to adjudge Krishna legbefore against Sahil Lotra's offspin proved decisive. The batter took the review, but in the absence of conclusive evidence (with the ball, bat and pads in alignment at the time of contact), the third umpire couldn't overturn it.

As soon as the new ball was taken, Auqib Nabi returned to provide the required potency to the attack. Vidyadhar Patil was in a bit of a trouble, but Mayank looked assured against the moving ball, continuing to step out and negate a bit of late movement.

However, Sunil Kumar struck from the other end, getting a nip-backer to kiss the edge of Patil's bat to have him caught behind. But Mayank enjoyed a bit of luck. One of his edges wasn't pouched by the 'keeper and it raced away for a boundary to help him bring up his 150. He continued to take on the pacers but Nabi had the last laugh, dismissing the Karnataka batter with an inswinger that had him trapped legbefore.

Vyshak hit a few lusty blows and Shikhar Shetty survived a dropped catch, but the hope of overhauling J&K's first innings score was well out of sight by then. Nabi had Shetty beaten on the inside edge and trapped legbefore to bag his 16th first-class fifer and his 60th wicket of the season, becoming the tournament's highest wicket-taker. Prasidh was caught at mid on in the next over to wrap up Karnataka's innings.

Three overs before lunch on Friday, with a 291-run lead to flaunt, Jammu & Kashmir had firmly placed one hand on their maiden Ranji Trophy. In the remaining three overs, Karnataka promised - for as difficult as the conditions were for them to turn around the situation - they were willing to fight it. Prasidh Krishna cleaned up Yawer Hassan and Shubham Pundir was caught behind off Vijaykumar Vyshak. The lead had swelled to 302, but with five sessions of play remaining, the eight-time champions had enough incentive to go on the attack and keep the contest alive.

However, that hour-long hope which may have lasted through the lunch break, dwindled soon. Even as the pacers beat the bat on several occasions, there wasn't any success coming their way. Qamran Iqbal, who had missed out in the first innings run fest, kept the Karnataka bowlers at bay through the post Lunch session - in the company of Paras Dogra, Abdul Samad and Sahil Lotra - even if he looked a bit out of sorts against high pace. One of them included a casual late loft over the cordon for a boundary which brought up his half-century. Coming in to fill the big boots of Shubham Khajuriya, he was making his presence count. It was not to be mistaken, Sahil Lotra noted. "I've seen him from Under-19 days, he bats like that. He will bat like and score centuries."

The pitch, which had promised to break and assist spinners, continued to not offer much to them. Shreyas Gopal's attempts to go round the wicket and use the footmarks didn't have much of an impact. With the old ball, the tired seamers too couldn't create much threat, despite drifting closer to the line of the stumps in the second essay. The desperation started to show, and Karnataka compulsively reviewed the decisions mid-way through the second session, and burnt two of them by the 23rd over.

Even as J&K cantered along, stretching the lead past 450, Karnataka opted to bring in fresh vigour to their bowling in the last 45 minutes of play. Spurred on by some chat with Qamran, Vyshak found some extra gas in his reserves and bowled one of his fastest overs. As the pacer continued to get riled up, Qamran added to the heat by gesturing that the pacer's speedy bouncer seemed like it's coming from a spinner. Unfortunately for Karnataka, all the chatter and fire had come too late - the direction of the match was obvious going against them. Qamran moved to 94, and the lead stretched to 477 by the time stumps were taken on Day 4.

While the runs were flowing on the ground, and the batters bided their time through the last two sessions, security protocol discussions were taking place in the office of the stadium, to host Jammu & Kashmir's chief minister who is set to arrive on the final day, assuming it to be a historic day for the cricket team from the state. But Karnataka have not given up their hopes as yet, Mayank stated. There is one more day to fight, and inspiration isn't too far away. He recalls the game against Punjab, the last match of the league stage where Karnataka chased down 252 in only 27.5 overs to secure a thrilling win and find a place in the knockouts.

Even as celebratory mood has kicked in for Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka are up for Djokovic-esque late fight again.

Brief Scores:Jammu & Kashmir 584 (Shubham Pundir 121, Yawer Hassan 88; Prasidh Krishna 5-98, Vijaykumar Vyshak 1-75) & 186/4 (Qamran Iqbal 94*; Prasidh Krishna 2-42) lead Karnataka 293 (Mayank Agarwal 160; Auqib Nabi 5-54, Sunil Kumar 2-51) by 477 runs