J&K's Ranji Trophy win must spur investments in infra development

India’s victory in the International T20 World Cup and the brilliance of Sanju Samson overshadowed an event of major significance that took place in the domestic cricket circuit on March 1, 2026. In a development that surprised most observers of the game, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) were crowned champions of the Ranji Trophy, the premier first-class tournament in the country. They won the finals, played at Hubballi, a city in North Karnataka, defeating the star-studded Karnataka side by a huge first innings margin.

It would be an understatement to say that no one expected J&K to reach the finals, let alone win it, when the season started. There was no doubt that the side had improved its performance by leaps and bounds in recent times and was no longer a bunch of pushovers, as it had been earlier. In the 2024-25 season, they had showcased their potential by defeating Mumbai, once the lord and master of the domestic circuit. Their exit in the last eight stage to Kerala, on account of losing the first-innings lead by one run, had caused considerable heartbreak at the time.

J&K started this season with a loss against Mumbai, who avenged the defeat they suffered the previous year by 35 runs. But they bounced back with huge wins against Delhi, Rajasthan and Hyderabad to move into the last eight stage. They defeated Madhya Pradesh by 56 runs in the quarterfinals, to set up a clash with Bengal in the last four stage. In a tightly contested match, J&K managed to stage a comeback after conceding the lead in the first innings and got the better of Bengal by 6 wickets.

Karnataka were undoubtedly the favourites in the final. None of the players from this state figured in the national T20 World Cup squad, so all their superstars were available for this game. Hence, they had in their ranks such stalwarts as KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Devdutt Padikkal, Mayank Agarwal and Prasidh Krishna, who had all donned the national colours. Besides this, the team boasted of R Smaran, the highest run getter in Ranji Trophy in the current season with 950 runs, and leg spinner Shreyas Gopal, who had a tally of 48 wickets. With the additional advantage of playing at home, the side appeared all set to lift the trophy, which they had last won in the 2014-15 season.

But J&K had other ideas. Helped by a dogged knock of 121 by Shubham Pundir and half-centuries by Yawer Hassan Khan, skipper Paras Dogra, Abdul Samad, Kanhaiya Wadhawan and Sahil Lotra, J&K piled up a huge first innings total of 584 runs. Then their bowlers, led by Auqib Nabi, got into the act and restricted the hosts to 293 in the first innings. Only Mayank Agarwal, who scored a defiant 160, could withstand the sustained pressure applied by the J&K, who ran through the Karnataka top order. J&K did not enforce the follow on and batted through the entire final day, with Qamran Iqbal and Sahil Lotra notching up hundreds against their name.

The hero for J&K was their right-arm medium pacer Auqib Nabi, who finished this season with 60 wickets, the seventh-highest tally by a bowler in a single season in the Ranji Trophy and the third-highest amongst fast bowlers. In the last two seasons, he has picked up 104 wickets (60 this year and 44 last year), making the 29-year-old one of the best-performing fast bowlers in the history of this championship. The eight 5-wicket hauls he achieved during this season placed him at the top of the list of bowlers with similar feats, along with Maurice Tate and Ron Oxenham, who achieved the landmark in 1926-27 and 1935-36, respectively. He has been chosen as a member of the Delhi Capitals side, though he is yet to make his debut in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He has not yet been selected for the India A side. One hopes that the national selectors reward these consistent performances.

Auqib Nabi returned with figures of 5 for 54 runs in the final. The fact that his victims included KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair and R Smaran showed the impact his bowling had in deciding the outcome of this match. In the semifinal against Bengal, he had match figures of 9 wickets for 123 runs, while in the last eight-game, he scalped 12 Madhya Pradesh wickets, conceding 110 runs. In short, he was the spearhead of the J&K attack who came to the rescue of his side whenever the need arose.

J&K owes a lot to their skipper Dogra for this victory. He led from the front with the bat, with a tally of 637 runs, finishing a close second behind Abdul Samad, who scored 748 runs. Dogra showed his class in crucial matches against Mumbai and Delhi by striking centuries. For this 41-year-old veteran, who is only the second batsman in the country after Wasim Jaffer to score more than 10,000 runs in the Ranji Trophy, winning this championship was a dream come true. He had planned to call it a day a couple of years ago, but was forced out by the pressure from family, friends and well-wishers.

Another key figure behind J&K's success was former national player Ajay Sharma, who took over as coach of this side in September 2022. He struck a good rapport with skipper Dogra, and the duo guided the fortunes of the side positively. Ajay Sharma was able to make the players believe in themselves and fire up their dreams and ambitions. He made them realise that winning the national title was not beyond them and worked assiduously with them towards this goal. This was also a sweet comeback into the cricket news headlines for him as well, after leaving the playing arena under a cloud during the match fixing scandal.

Until this side made history, the only cricketer from J&K to be renowned at the national level was Parvez Rasool, the off-spinner who played for India in one One Day International and one T20 International during the middle of the previous decade. He played first-class cricket for J&K for 15 years, till his retirement in 2023, picking up 633 wickets. Besides, he was also a useful batsman, having struck 17 centuries in domestic first-class cricket. Though he is unfortunate not to be part of the squad that won the Ranji Trophy, he can take solace in the fact that his achievements have inspired an entire generation of cricketers from this state.

This victory of J&K marks yet another step in the extension of the footprint of cricket across the length and breadth of the country. This game, which was mostly located in metros and major princely states of yore, started taking root in smaller towns and villages after Kapil Dev and his boys brought home the World Cup in 1983. Such a shift is reflected by the fact that J&K has become the 19th side to win the Ranji Trophy championship. Further, eight amongst these sides won the championship for the first time after the turn of the century. This is a welcome development and augurs well for the game, which is taking strong root in all parts of the country.

Finally, this victory of J&K, a sensitive border state that appears in the news only for reasons related to militancy and terrorism, underscores the power of sports to attract youngsters to a healthy, positive way of life. The recognition, fame and affluence that success in cricket brings are bound to attract more youngsters to take up this sport and inspire more and more people to focus on the game, rather than pursue activities, some of which may be inimical to the interests of society and the nation. It is for this reason that Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the side on this landmark achievement. The J&K government also recognised the enormity of the achievement by announcing a purse of Rs 2 crores for the members of the winning side and the support staff. The Chief Minister of J&K also announced that all players will be entitled to government appointments, a major benefit in a state where the private sector is not as well developed as in other parts of the country.

However, the state still has some distance to go in infrastructure and other facilities for players before it can catch up with other states in the country. Mithun Manhas, the current President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), who had earlier headed the sub-committee responsible for the affairs of the J&K Cricket Association, admitted to a shortage of good-quality grounds and stadia in the state.

The achievement by the side should spur the local association and the state government to accelerate the process of acquiring land and creating the required facilities for the conduct of matches and training youngsters. This provides the government with the perfect moment to launch projects across the state to promote all sports, so that youngsters are given opportunities to excel in their chosen fields. Sports can act as a panacea for most of the ills and problems plaguing the state by providing an alternate avenue for restless youth to expend their energies and open new vistas for a productive, gainful life.

Congratulations to skipper Paras Dogra and his side! You have made the entire country proud through this incredible achievement.