Jammu and Kashmir reached Ranji Trophy final for the first time after defeating Bengal; Delhi Capitals fast bowlers shine

Jammu and Kashmir created history by reaching their first Ranji Trophy final by defeating Bengal on the fourth day of the semi-finals at the Bengal Cricket Academy Ground in Kalyani on Wednesday, February 18. The Paras Dogra-led side chased down the target of 126 runs to reach the final of the red-ball tournament.

Jammu and Kashmir reached the Ranji Trophy final for the first time after a spectacular win over Bengal. Auqib Nabi took nine wickets in the match and scored 42 runs in 54 balls in the first innings. They are likely to face Karnataka in the final, in the semi-finals Karnataka will have to take the lead in the first innings against Uttarakhand.

Jammu and Kashmir defeated Bengal to enter Ranji Trophy final

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𝙎𝘾𝙀𝙉𝙀𝙎 𝙊𝙁 𝙋𝙐𝙍𝙀 𝙅𝙐𝘽𝙄𝙇𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙊

Jammu and Kashmir created history, defeated Bengal by 7 wickets and booked their ticket #RanjiTrophy First time final

Scorecard https://t.co/QXyCuRHJ6e@IDFCFIRSTBANK pic.twitter.com/VBKPD9I9mX

– BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) 18 February 2026

Bengal lost control despite taking a 26-run lead in the first innings after bowling out Jammu and Kashmir for 302 before lunch on Tuesday. Their score reached 77/6 in just 20 overs at tea and then lost their remaining four wickets within 5.1 overs.

Bengal were all out for 99 runs, their lowest score against Jammu and Kashmir in first-class cricket. Jammu and Kashmir needed only 126 runs for a historic win and were 43/2 at the end of the third day’s play, just 83 runs away from reaching their first Ranji Trophy final.

On the fourth day, Bengal got early hope when Shami broke the overnight partnership by dismissing Pundir at 50/3. However, Paras Dogra and Vanshaj Sharma kept the chase steady by making a 21-run partnership for the fourth wicket.

After this, Abdul Samad played a quick inning of 30 runs on 27 balls and played an unbeaten inning of 55 runs on 42 balls for the fifth wicket. The partnership settled the innings and propelled J&K from strongly to make the final.

Jammu and Kashmir makes history with first Ranji Trophy final

Jammu and Kashmir created history by scoring 126/4 and qualified for their first Ranji Trophy final. The team waited 66 years for this moment after playing in the tournament for the first time in the 1959–60 season.

They recorded their first Ranji Trophy win in 1982–83 and suffered a painful defeat by one run in the quarter-finals the previous season. This time, Jammu and Kashmir performed impressively in the knockout stage and achieved a famous win by defeating a strong Bengal team in West Bengal.

Eventually it sank in – Paras Dogra

Jammu and Kashmir captain Paras Dogra said that this victory is important for the team. He said that the team is not worried about Bengal’s lead of 26 runs and the team is confident that they can turn the match, although he did not expect to bowl out Bengal so early.

“(Initial thoughts) eventually sunk in. The target was small. We just needed a good partnership to get over the line,” Dogra was quoted as saying by CREX.

“(Consideration on conceding the lead) With 2.5 days remaining, a lead of 26 runs didn’t scare us. We knew we could turn it around. Although we didn’t know we would bowl them out so early.”

“(On the team and management) It feels amazing to win today. The credit goes to the management and all the members of the team. From day one we have been talking about winning the Ranji Trophy. Hopefully we will do that.”

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