Ranji Trophy | Nabi tears through Madhya Pradesh, propels J&K into the semifinals

Auqib Nabi's 12-wicket haul leads Jammu & Kashmir to a 56-run victory over Madhya Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy semifinals.

Auqib Nabi stole the show with a career-best 12-wicket haul as Jammu & Kashmir, fuelled by the pacer’s appetite for wickets, crushed former champion Madhya Pradesh by 56 runs to storm into the Ranji Trophy semifinals here on Monday.

Chasing 291 on the penultimate day, the 2021-22 champion Madhya Pradesh was dismissed for 234, paving the way for Jammu & Kashmir to march into the last four round, where it will face Bengal.

The 29-year-old Nabi again emerged as the wrecker-in-chief, adding five for 70 to his first-innings haul of seven wickets to finish with a dozen wickets for just 110 runs.

Madhya Pradesh, resuming at 87 for five with Nabi having taken three for 23, saw the pacer return to finish the job, first dismissing Ramveer Gurjar (11) and then breaking the resistance of Saransh Jain, who had stood firm with an 81-ball 64 to keep the home team’s hopes alive.

Tailender Aryan Pandey’s 22 was the last wicket to fall, but Madhya Pradesh’s collapse had already begun earlier in the day, with Venkatesh Iyer being the first to go at 104, adding just 20 runs to his overnight score of seven.

Sensing victory, J&K pressed on, but veteran Saransh kept the fight alive, stitching together valuable partnerships with Shubham Sharma (32) and Ramveer before eventually falling to Nabi, having struck seven boundaries and a six.