Jammu & Kashmir script history with maiden Ranji Trophy title

There are trophies that find a place of pride in cabinets, as an added sheen, polished and prettied. And then, there are trophies that 'promise' to alter the course of history. For Jammu & Kashmir, a state that has carried heavier narratives for several decades in the Indian landscape, their maiden Ranji Trophy title provided that moment to rejoice; its big moment of glory, and a clincher of belief.

On Saturday (February 28), at 2.11 PM, when the captains decided to shake hands, it became official what was expected for more than 24 hours: that Jammu & Kashmir, who had taken a massive 291-run lead in the first innings, would be crowned champions of the 91st Ranji Trophy. Mayank Agarwal, the Karnataka opener and the highest scorer in the decisive first innings, had promised that the hosts wouldn't go down without a fight on the final day, evoking memories of their all-out attack against Punjab in the last group game.

But Karnataka, on a slow track that was stingy in offering pace and bounce to the pacers, and the footmarks doing little to make the spinners threatening, gave up the fight quite early on Day 5, employing the services of KL Rahul - who had last bowled in first-class cricket more than a decade ago - to save some agony to the rest of the bowling pack which had endured with limited success over three and a half days on the lifeless surface.

Everything else was a mere formality with J&K's overnight batters, Qamran Iqbal and Sahil Lotra, piling on the runs, as late individual rewards to themselves, bringing up their respective centuries and ensuring their bowlers didn't have to toil again pointlessly on that track. They had help coming along. Lotra was dropped by Mayank at first slip on 62, but even if he was to take a catch, any alteration in the result of the contest was unlikely. The reward for their months of toil was coming. They had outplayed oppositions across the country: a come-from behind narrow win against Mumbai in Srinagar and hammering Delhi in Delhi; beating Madhya Pradesh in Indore and Bengal in Kolkata in the knockouts before outbatting and outbowling Karnataka in Hubbali.

Records tumbled, and Auqib Nabi finished as the highest wicket-taker in the season, proving his mettle in different conditions, against international-quality players. But the list of contributors were long. One among them was Paras Dogra, the captain of the team, who moved three teams across 24 years, compiling more than 10,000 runs before lifting his maiden title.

Brief Scores:Jammu & Kashmir 584 (Shubham Pundir 121, Yawer Hassan 88; Prasidh Krishna 5-98, Vijaykumar Vyshak 1-75) & 342/4 (Qamran Iqbal 160*, Sahil Lotra 101*; Prasidh Krishna 2-42) drew with Karnataka 293 (Mayank Agarwal 160; Auqib Nabi 5-54, Sunil Kumar 2-51). J&K won the title on the basis of first innings lead