Hubbali, Feb 28 (NationPress) The Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, was present at the Hubli Cricket Ground to witness the climax of the Ranji Trophy final featuring J&K and Karnataka. During this pivotal day, opener Qamran Iqbal reached his century while Sahil Lothra scored a notable fifty, helping J&K to extend their lead to a remarkable 477 runs against the eight-time champions, Karnataka.

"Here in Hubballi to support the J&K cricket team as they achieve a historic victory. Throughout the five-day final, our team has consistently outperformed the opposition," tweeted Omar Abdullah on X.

On Friday, J&K began the final session at 89/3 and demonstrated a proactive approach. Both Abdul Samad and Qamran scored rapidly, with four boundaries hit in the initial three overs.

Qamran brought up his half-century in the 33rd over with a boundary off Vidyadhar Patil, reaching the milestone in just 89 balls. He then accelerated the pace of scoring, regularly finding the boundary and putting pressure on Karnataka.

Karnataka managed to secure a breakthrough in the 44th over when Shreyas Gopal dismissed Samad for 32 runs off 70 balls, which included four fours and a six.

Post Samad’s dismissal, Qamran took on more responsibility and faced additional deliveries to support the new batter, Sahil. There was a brief confrontation between Qamran and Vijay Kumar Vyshak after a sharp bouncer in the 49th over, but Qamran maintained his focus.

He ended the day unbeaten on 94 runs, merely six runs shy of a century, as J&K solidified their hold on the match.

Earlier, Karnataka bowled effectively in the morning session, reducing J&K to 11/2 before Lunch. Prasidh Krishna and Vijay Kumar Vyshak delivered disciplined spells, while the fielders applied pressure.

Qamran and captain Paras Dogra steadied the innings with a 61-run partnership, but Krishna bowled Dogra with a sharp delivery. Qamran then formed 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, with Sahil dismissing Kruthik in the 78th over. Sushil Kumar then removed Vidyadhar Patil in the 84th over, leaving Karnataka at 256/7.

Despite wickets falling at the other end, Mayank Agarwal fought valiantly, scoring 160 runs off 266 balls, including 21 fours. He survived a few close calls before being dismissed in the 91st over by Auqib Nabi.

Auqib capped off his five-wicket haul by dismissing Shikhar Shetty, while Yudhvir Singh took the final wicket, leading to Karnataka's total of 293 runs. J&K achieved an impressive 291-run lead in the first innings.