Jammu & Kashmir receive praise from BCCI President and ex-cricketer after historic win

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Mithun Manhas praised Jammu and Kashmir for their consistent performance as they won their first-ever Ranji Trophy, ending a 67-year wait. He said the team’s self-belief and strong squad depth helped them beat top teams at home.Jammu and Kashmir defeated eight-time champions Karnataka in the final on Saturday in Hubballi. Playing their first Ranji final, J&K became champions thanks to a massive 291-run first-innings lead, which Karnataka could not overcome.

Born in Jammu, Manhas played his early cricket in Jammu and Kashmir and later shifted his domestic base to Delhi. However, he again went back to Jammu & Kashmir in 2015 before retiring from professional cricket the following year.

Later, he served on the sub-committee appointed by the BCCI to oversee the functioning of the Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association."It's been a fantastic journey. We have been beating teams in their home den. It's not like we started playing good cricket only in the quarterfinals, semis, or finals. We've been doing it consistently. It has all happened because of the belief system that the players have. They believe that they can take on any side in the domestic circuit.

Every boy is a match-winner in this team," Manhas told ANI.Former Indian cricketer Anjum Chopra also praised the team, calling the win like a “mini World Cup”. She appreciated Manhas’ vision and the state’s hard work."Jammu and Kashmir has won the title for the first time, it feels like we've actually won a mini World Cup. The kind of hard work they have applied, and we, the players, know that a lot of players contribute to this. In fact, Mithun Manhas, who is currently the BCCI President, I feel that his vision, his hard work, everybody around the state who saw this dream, or made a process to fulfil this dream, and then followed that process, season after season, even last year, it was very good, so I'm very happy.

And, you can feel very proud of Jammu and Kashmir players and for the state because it's a dream that they saw and today, winning the Ranji Trophy title, a dream that they saw is actually being realised. Very happy for them," Chopra told ANI.About the match:J&K batted first and scored 584, with

Shubham

Pundir making 121.Auqib Nabi then took 5 wickets, helping bowl Karnataka out for 293, giving J&K a first-innings lead of 291.Mayank Agarwal

scored 160 for Karnataka, but it wasn’t enough.In J&K’s second innings, Qamran Iqbal and Sahil Lotra scored hundreds, extending the lead to 633.The match ended in a draw on Day 5, but J&K’s first-innings lead secured them the title