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

The location: perfectly picturesque. The people: lukewarm and cordial. The culture: vibrant. But that’s precisely wherever the niceties dissolve. Confront them connected an unforgiving 22-yard strip, and the warmth hardens into will, the smiles slice into steely stare-downs.

Ask home powerhouse and 42-time champion Mumbai. Ask two-time titleholder Rajasthan. Ask two-time victor Hyderabad. Ask five-time titlist Madhya Pradesh. Ask erstwhile rubric holder, Bengal. Now see eight-time powerhouse Karnataka.

Each volition narrate a antithetic battle. Different sessions seized. Defining moments wrested away. Yet the decision remains chillingly accordant — Jammu and Kashmir are fierce, relentless, and unapologetically superior astir their craft. Now perched astatine the acme of the nation’s premier red-ball contention — the Ranji Trophy — they basal tall, composed, and commanding aft overpowering Karnataka’s celebrated batting portion successful the final. From the valleys to the pinnacle of Indian home cricket, they person earned their spot astatine the top. Every singular travel needs heroes — and for J & K, they person travel successful numbers. Meet the protagonists. The men connected the field, and conscionable arsenic importantly disconnected it, who person crafted this communicative to adjacent perfection.

Auqib Nabi: The Baramulla Express has been cardinal to J & K’s historical triumph. Over the past 2 seasons, 2024-25 and 2025-26, helium has derailed 1 broadside aft another, establishing himself arsenic the spearhead of a squad that had ne'er antecedently reached the apical 4 successful immoderate competition.

He hasn’t simply been effective; helium has transformed J & K’s bowling identity. In the last astatine Hubballi, Nabi roseate to the grandest stage. He dismissed accomplished Test batters K.L. Rahul and Karun Nair with deliveries of the highest prime — some pitched connected a probing length, kissed the seam, and shaped distant conscionable enough. Rahul could lone feather a faint edge, portion Nair’s furnishings disturbed arsenic helium stood momentarily stunned. Nabi wasn’t done. He went connected to assertion 3 much wickets, including the location side’s lone centurion, Mayank Agarwal and starring run-scorer R. Smaran, efficaciously breaking the backbone of Karnataka’s resistance.

This season, Nabi finished arsenic the starring wicket-taker with 60 scalps. Across the 2 campaigns combined, helium has amassed a staggering 104 wickets. In this period, helium has registered 13 five-wicket hauls successful conscionable 18 matches. He became the archetypal J & K bowler to assertion 50-plus wickets successful a azygous Ranji play and the archetypal from the authorities to apical the tournament’s bowling charts. Notably, helium had already acceptable a benchmark the erstwhile twelvemonth with 44 wickets.

In 2025-26 alone, Nabi recorded 8 five-wicket hauls — the joint-most by immoderate pacer successful a first-class play successful India. Only Maurice Tate (1926-27) and Ron Oxenham (1935-36) person matched that mark.

Such sustained excellence has inevitably sparked wide clamour from stalwarts of the game, calling for his inclusion successful the National broadside — and rightly so.

Sunil Kumar: The Silent Warrior has provided unwavering enactment from the different end. The 26-year-old left-arm seamer was a survey successful power passim the season, operating with precision, patience and discipline. His quality to onshore the shot successful probing areas, implicit aft over, created the unit that allowed breakthroughs to follow.

While the spotlight often tilted elsewhere, Sunil’s quiescent spells squeezed absorption batters into mistakes. He concluded the run with 31 wickets, including 2 five-wicket hauls — numbers that bespeak some consistency and craft. Understated successful demeanour, Sunil has gone astir his enactment without fanfare. If 1 extremity brought the thunder, the different ensured the tempest ne'er relented.

Abdul Samad: The Middle-Order Mauler’s immense skill, range, and imaginable flickered successful phases. This season, it burned bright. If J & K had the arsenal to dismantle sides with the ball, they required a pillar with the bat to stack up the runs. Samad answered that call.

Often branded a white-ball player, the 24-year-old reshaped that cognition successful the precocious concluded campaign. His red-ball crippled displayed maturity, patience, and a willingness to graft — qualities that added extent and assurance to the batting order.

Samad finished arsenic the team’s highest run-scorer, amassing 748 runs successful 10 matches astatine an awesome mean of 57.53, including a period and 5 half-centuries. In the final, his composed 61 disconnected 104 deliveries played a important relation successful powering J & K to a formidable 584.

Beyond the numbers, it was his temperament that stood out. Batting successful the mediate order, Samad provided stableness successful investigating phases, absorbing unit and constructing captious partnerships. Whether successful the high-stakes last oregon successful knockout clashes against Madhya Pradesh successful the quarterfinal and Bengal successful the semifinal, helium delivered erstwhile it mattered most.

Paras Dogra: The Veteran and Leader’s travel successful the Ranji Trophy began successful 2002. Having represented Himachal Pradesh and Puducherry implicit a vocation spanning much than 2 decades, the seasoned campaigner yet realised a long-cherished imagination — lifting the Ranji Trophy arsenic skipper of Jammu & Kashmir.

He volition everlastingly beryllium remembered arsenic the archetypal skipper to usher J & K to a Ranji title. At 41, Dogra brought acold much than runs to the table. His leadership, calm authority, and immense home acquisition offered absorption and equilibrium to a broadside scripting history. In tense phases, his beingness steadied the dressing room; successful defining moments, his bat did the talking.

Dogra ended the play arsenic J & K’s second-highest run-scorer, compiling 637 runs successful 10 matches astatine an mean of 42.46, with 2 centuries and 4 half-centuries. This play besides marked a idiosyncratic milestone — Dogra crossed the 10,000-run people successful the Ranji Trophy, becoming lone the 2nd batter aft erstwhile India opener Wasim Jaffer to scope that landmark successful the tournament’s history.

Qamran Iqbal: The Blaster’s quality successful the last was dramatic. Having featured successful the earlier rounds, helium was not portion of the squad for the knockouts. But a last-minute wounded to regular opener Shubham Khajuria forced the squad absorption to alert him to Hubballi connected the eve of the rubric clash — a abrupt telephone that handed him a historical opportunity.

Qamran responded emphatically. In the 2nd essay, helium produced a monumental unbeaten 160 disconnected 311 deliveries, aft his broadside was reduced to 31 for two. It was an innings of endurance and authority, 1 that knocked retired Karnataka.

Across the tournament, Qamran amassed 471 runs successful six matches astatine an mean of 58.87, including 2 centuries and 2 fifties. But it was that defining sound successful the last — arriving arsenic a last-minute replacement — that volition permanently beryllium written successful J & K’s cricketing folklore.

Shubham Pundir: The Grinder was different captious cog successful the J & K wheel. Heading into Hubballi, his spot successful the XI was nether scrutiny pursuing humble returns successful the quarterfinal and semifinal against Madhya Pradesh and Bengal.

Pundir answered — with runs. Walking successful astatine No. 3, helium crafted a resolute 121 successful the archetypal innings of the final, anchoring the batting effort and steering J & K to a mammoth total. It was an innings built connected patience, discipline, and determination, laying a rock-solid instauration for what would go a title-winning performance. He was rightly adjudged Player of the Match for his defining century. In the 2025-26 Ranji season, Pundir accumulated 330 runs successful 4 matches, including 2 hundreds, astatine an mean of 47.14 — a grinder who delivered erstwhile it mattered most.

Sahil Lotra: The Middle- and Lower-Order Punisher was arsenic decisive arsenic the different headline-makers. Coming into the acme clash, helium roseate magnificently.

In the archetypal innings, Sahil struck a captious 72, providing invaluable momentum from the mediate bid and helping propulsion the full to imposing heights. If that was important, what followed was extraordinary. In the second, helium compiled a commanding unbeaten 101. Alongside Qamran, helium stitched an unbroken 197-run concern for the 5th wicket, a basal that flattened Karnataka’s hopes and sealed the title.

Abid Mushtaq: The All-Round Engine ensured that J & K chugged on merrily to a historical Ranji Trophy triumph. An all-rounder successful the truest sense, Mushtaq provided the equilibrium each champion broadside requires — dependable runs successful the little middle-order and timely breakthroughs with the ball.

This season, helium amassed 445 runs successful 10 matches astatine an mean of 37.08, including a period and a half-century. With the ball, helium was arsenic dependable, claiming 20 wickets astatine an mean of 31.75 and maintaining a tidy system complaint of 3.20. His five-wicket haul during the run underlined his quality to power games with much than conscionable control. Mushtaq’s accordant beingness crossed disciplines ensured J & K were ne'er one-dimensional. His all-round interaction stitched the run together, playing a important portion successful transforming a imagination into a landmark achievement.

Ajay Sharma: The Monk, Mentor and Motivator ever remained a measurement up of the opponent(s). A stalwart, who scored implicit 10,000 First Class runs and picked up important wickets during his playing career, the caput manager brought a treasure trove of acquisition to the squad — yet chose to pb softly from down the scenes, observing, guiding, and fine-tuning each detail.

Known for his strict discipline, Ajay demanded absorption and committedness from each player. Initially, the squad recovered his methods exacting, adjacent daunting. But arsenic spot grew, truthful did their performance. His operation of rigorous preparation, tactical acumen, and content successful his players has been instrumental successful shaping his squad into the formidable unit they are today.

Krishna Kumar: The Miracle Maker was instrumental successful shaping the bowling portion into the potent unit it has become. Much of the translation happened distant from the spotlight — successful agelong pre-season sessions that began arsenic aboriginal arsenic the All India Buchi Babu tourney successful Chennai past August.

It is nary coincidence that bowlers similar Nabi, Sunil, Yudhvir Singh and others person evolved into a lethal pack. Behind their crisp spells lies meticulous planning, clarity of roles, and relentless preparation, acknowledgment to the erstwhile Rajasthan pacer’s power arsenic the bowling coach.

In a chat with the The Hindu during the Ranji season, helium underlined what sets the broadside apart. “Unity is the key. We’re bonding precise well. If idiosyncratic makes a mistake, we don’t criticise them, we promote them. The dressing country situation is fantastic. Earlier, immoderate tiny aspects were ignored, but present everything is professional. Even a tiny misfield is discussed successful meetings. That has made everyone responsible. We’re ticking astir boxes, and that’s making a immense difference.” Those words present resonate louder than ever.

Dishant Yagnik: The Visionary boldly predicted during the Buchi Babu tourney that his broadside would assistance the trophy. That prophecy has travel true.

But Yagnik’s imaginativeness stretches beyond 1 crown. “Yes, and I’ll basal by it. I genuinely judge that JKCA volition beryllium the archetypal squad successful Indian home cricket to triumph each 3 formats successful a azygous play — Ranji Trophy, Vijay Hazare, and Syed Mushtaq Ali. Call it a vision, a dream, oregon a assertion — but it’s rooted successful what I’ve seen: the players’ mindset, the administration’s support, and the wide attitude. When a squad wants to triumph that badly, triumph is not excessively acold away”.

Bold words — but aft this historical campaign, fewer would uncertainty the content that fuels this dressing room.