Nabi 12-for takes J&K to maiden Ranji semi-final as MP fall short

Sixty-seven years after they first featured in the Ranji Trophy, and six years after they last made the knockouts, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) scripted history by storming into their maiden semi-final with a 56-run victory over Madhya Pradesh (MP) in Indore.

At the forefront of their win was Auqib Nabi, who returned staggering match figures of 12 for 110 to seal the epochal win. Nabi, the only seamer in the top-five wicket-takers' list this Ranji Trophy, took his season's tally to 46 wickets, second behind Uttarakhand's Mayank Mishra, who has 52. Nabi now has an incredible 97 first-class wickets since the start of the 2024-25 Ranji season.

MP began the fourth day on 87 for 5, needing a further 204 runs to win, but were set back in the first half hour by losing vice-captain Venkatesh Iyer. Saransh Jain, the allrounder, then kept them in the hunt by making a sprightly 64, putting on some crucial runs with Shubham Sharma and Ramveer Gurjar along the way.

However, Nabi had the last laugh as he got one to bend back in from around the stumps to go past Saransh's defence. At 211 for 9, it seemed a matter of time. But the last-wicket pair of Aryan Pandey and Kuldeep Sen kept J&K at bay by adding 23, before Yudhvir Singh clean bowled Pandey to seal victory to joyous scenes.

The game seemed on a knife's edge. J&K stormed back into the game after being bowled out for 194 in the first innings, but thanks to Nabi's 7 for 40, they pocketed a slender 42-run lead. Then MP fought back to leave J&K reeling at 73 for 5 in the second innings, before their lower order led a jailbreak courtesy Abid Mushtaq (41) and Vanshraj Sharma (54*).

Even so, with J&K at 183 for 9 in the second innings, MP were looking at a sub-250 target, but they ended up conceding a 65-run stand for the tenth wicket, between Sunil Kumar and Yudhvir, that ended up giving J&K the cushion that eventually helped pull off victory.