Qamran Iqbal was nowhere in the scheme of J&K’s momentous clash against Karnataka on Monday morning. By midnight, the 24-year-old was on an eight-hour overnight journey – from Srinagar to Mumbai to Hubballi. A late injury on match eve had forced senior opener Shubham Khajuria out, and Iqbal was dialled in at 11:30 pm. Arriving at the KSCA ground in Rajnagar an hour before the toss on Tuesday, Iqbal hopped out to open. His gear was untucked and shabby, uncommon for a purist in whites. By the time the weekend rolled in, Iqbal was his state’s second centurion (160 not out) in , ending in a brutal annihilation of hosts Karnataka.
Iqbal had hobbled and squeezed through 36 deliveries before being plucked by Karnataka pace spearhead Prasidh Krishna on Day 1. But the initial job was done. On a slow flatbed that was moist on the first morning, all Iqbal and his under-fire opening partner, Yawer Hassan, had to do was delay the early breakthrough.
Over the course of the last four sessions in J&K’s historic run to lift the Ranji Trophy for the first time in 66 years, Iqbal was presented with the opportunity to raise his arms first. His unorthodox technique had rankled the pacers on Friday, with V Vyshakh heating up perilously close towards a serious reprimand from the umpires. Teetering on the pitch with his wobbly technique for every rising delivery, he would soon carve a slashed six over backward point. A wrong-footed slap off India seamer Prasidh Krishna on the final delivery of the previous evening, through mid-off, had delivered a statement.
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For 56 overs on Saturday, Prasidh, Vysakh and Vidhyadhar Patil were silent props on the outfield, overlooking Iqbal and his overnight partner Sahil Lotra pummeling the tweakers ruthlessly. The pace trio’s game was effectively over four days ago on the opening morning, when they let J&K’s wobbly top-order loose on a pitch that had runs written from the outset if not for immeasurable consistency on length.
On a slow wicket, the teeth of Karnataka’s seamers had lost their edge, bringing the weaker parts of both teams — J&K’s top-order and Karnataka’s fledgling bowling unit — to level pegging. The contest’s outcome was then settled in the seismic match-up between J&K’s seam comet, Auqib Nabi, and the Karnataka top order. The scoresheet eventually accounts for another draw sealed by handshakes before tea on the final day. However, the match was done and dusted with Nabi’s devastating second spell on Day 3 — an imperious five-over exhibition that yielded three wickets.
From the lack of an alternate gameplan to account for Nabi’s infallible lines and devious movement from length, it was amply understood that the Karnataka top five had underestimated the Baramulla craftsman. and froze in the crease, with Nabi taking only one ball to dismantle the rising star R Smaran. Former skipper skimmed through the initial probe with a stark counter, moving forward to the pitch of Nabi’s deliveries. But even his superlative century (160) would be eclipsed by Nabi on the rebound on Friday, when the second new ball brought along a rejuvenated line of attack around the off-stump.
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The game had turned into a farce by Saturday noon when Karnataka skipper popped the ball to Rahul, for the sake of a few thousand Karnataka fans still gathered on the final day. Lotra would storm to his maiden First-Class century before captain Paras Dogra opted to put Karnataka out of their misery after 287 overs of batting across both innings.
Iqbal and Lotra’s centuries ensured J&K’s batting complemented the bowlers for the “war” coach Ajay Sharma had set out against the eight-time champions.
It is the unflappable temperament that the J&K cartel had sworn by since last year, where a solitary run defined their exit in the quarter-finals against Kerala. “We thought that this lead would haunt us for a long time,” said coach Sharma, whose many revolutions meant backing a pool of players who even copped a severe dressing down when the situation arose.
Among them was , whose T20 instincts were not entirely banished but recalibrated with Sharma’s intervention. Samad finished the season as J&K’s highest run-getter. The diamond from the coal town of Kalakote could not resist a few maximums in the final, the first of which also made him the first from J&K to club 100 sixes in Ranji history.
A band of largely self-made players from the diverse topographies of and Kashmir, technique is not their strongest suit. It did not quell Dogra’s bravado across the first two days — copping body blows and expletives from Karnataka rookies — nor perturb the unorthodox Iqbal’s gumption in the second essay.
There are no signs of a wide-eyed upstart pulling off a one-off romp to the top in here. Beating three Ranji-winning outfits in succession in the knockouts has effectively stamped J&K as the deserving winners of the long-format grind this year. Sharma stressed that it sets up a reminder for 2027.
“There is no runner-up in this war. I am very happy that these kids have created a legacy. You can’t take JKCA lightly now. JKCA is a force to be reckoned with. Nobody can take us lightly anymore,” said the beaming coach. And who can argue with that?
