Hubli, Feb 27 (IANS) Opener Qamran Iqbal remained unbeaten on 94 as Jammu and Kashmir reached 186/4 at stumps on Day 4 of the Ranji Trophy final at the Hubli Cricket Ground on Friday, stretching their overall lead to 477 runs against eight-time champions Karnataka.
Sahil Lotra was batting on 16 at the end of play, giving Qamran valuable support as J&K moved closer to a historic victory.
J&K resumed the final session at 89/3 and showed positive intent. Abdul Samad and Qamran scored quickly, hitting four boundaries in the first three overs of the session.
Qamran brought up his half-century in the 33rd over with a boundary off Vidyadhar Patil. He reached his fifty in 89 balls and then increased the scoring rate, regularly finding the boundary to put Karnataka under pressure.
Karnataka got a breakthrough in the 44th over when Shreyas Gopal dismissed Samad for 32 off 70 balls. Samad hit four fours and one six during his innings.
After Samad’s dismissal, Qamran took responsibility and faced more deliveries to protect the new batter, Sahil. There was also a brief exchange between Qamran and Vijay Kumar Vyshak after a sharp bouncer in the 49th over, but Qamran stayed focused.
He remained unbeaten on 94 at the end of the day, just six runs short of a century, as J&K tightened their grip on the match.
Earlier in the day, Karnataka bowled well in the morning session and reduced J&K to 11/2 by Lunch. Prasidh Krishna and Vijay Kumar Vyshak bowled disciplined spells, while the fielders maintained pressure.
Qamran and captain Paras Dogra then steadied the innings with a 61-run partnership. However, Krishna bowled Dogra with a sharp delivery. Qamran then built another partnership with Abdul Samad as J&K reached 89/3 at Tea.
J&K started the day strongly by breaking the partnership between Karnataka’s batters Mayank Agarwal and Kruthik Krishna. Sahil dismissed Kruthik in the 78th over. Sushil Kumar then removed Vidyadhar Patil in the 84th over to leave Karnataka at 256/7.
Mayank Agarwal continued to fight despite wickets falling at the other end. He scored 160 off 266 balls, hitting 21 fours. He survived a few chances before being dismissed in the 91st over by Auqib Nabi.
Auqib completed his five-wicket haul by dismissing Shikhar Shetty, while Yudhvir Singh took the final wicket as Karnataka were bowled out for 293. J&K secured a massive 291-run first-innings lead.
With one day remaining, Jammu and Kashmir hold a strong advantage and are within touching distance of their maiden Ranji Trophy title.
Brief scores (stumps, Day 4):
Jammu & Kashmir 584 all out & 186/4 in 57 overs (Qamran Iqbal 94 not out, Abdul Samad 32, Sahil Lotra 16 not out; Prasidh Krishna 2-42) lead Karnataka 293 all out in 93.3 overs (Mayank Agarwal 160, Kruthik Krishna 36; Auqib Nabi Dar 5-54, Sushil Kumar 2-51, Yudhwir Singh Charak 2-55) by 477 runs
–IANS
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