Hubli, Feb 27 (IANS) Opener Qamran Iqbal stood tall as Jammu & Kashmir recovered from early setbacks to reach tea on Day 4 of the Ranji Trophy Final against eight-time champions Karnataka at Hubli Cricket Ground on Friday.

Resuming at 11/2 after lunch to increase the first innings lead of 291 runs further, J&K batters opted for a cautious approach as Karnataka’s pacers Prasidh Krishna and Vijay Kumar Vyshak bowled good lengths with fielders also building pressure through their efforts.

Dogra and Qamran handled the pressure and didn’t let Karnataka make use of the early momentum as they rotated the strike and took quick singles to put pressure on the opposition.

The duo forged a 61-run partnership and were looking to extend the lead before Krishna dismantled Dogra’s stumps through a ripper as the crowd cheered loudly for their home team. Dogra scored 16 runs off 59 balls.

After losing the skipper, Qamran continued to steer the innings with the help of in-form batter Abdul Samad, who started his innings with a four on the third ball he faced.

Qamran is just seven runs away from his half-century while Samad is unbeaten on 8 runs at the end of the second session. While J&K has extended their lead to 380 runs against Karnataka.

Earlier, Karnataka made a strong start with the ball in the second innings, taking two early wickets as Jammu and Kashmir were reduced to 11/2 at lunch.

Brief Scores: Jammu & Kashmir 584 all out & 89/3 (Shubham Pundir 121, Yawer Hassan 88, Sahil Lotra 72, Kanhaiya Wadhawan 70, Paras Dogra 70; Prasidh Krishna 5-98) lead Karnataka 293 all out in 93.3 overs (Mayank Agarwal 160, Kruthik Krishna 36; Auqib Nabi Dar 5-54, Sushil Kumar 2-51, Yudhwir Singh Charak 2-55) by 380 runs at Tea on Day 4.

–IANS

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