The Ranji Trophy final clash between Jammu & Kashmir and Karnataka is heading towards a nerve-wracking close at KSCA Hubli Cricket Ground. Both the teams fought well over two days, and the chances of a drawn encounter appear high.

In their maiden appearance in the Ranji Trophy final, Jammu & Kashmir showcased high confidence on the batting front. Paras Dogra led J&K won the toss and decided to bat. The batting lineup, except for losing a couple of wickets, did not face many problems and finished at 284/2 on day one of the contest. Continuing their innings on day two, Jammu & Kashmir made their presence felt and piled on massive runs to put Karnataka under immense pressure.

Karnataka now has toiled hard to score big and not just gain the first innings lead. Hosts are equipped with one of the best batting line-ups in the country with names such as KL Rahul, skipper Devdutt Padikkal, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair who are all part of India team and an aspiring Test player from the Karnataka lineup Smaran Ravichandran.

Given that all are good batters, Karnataka cannot be written off completely, but the pressure is certainly on them to deliver in their first innings.

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Going by the current trend, it looks likely that this final match might end in a draw, but still, the final is open to be either team winning. A definite result might be tough to come by given the time remaining. For Jammu & Kashmir to win this contest outright, they would have to take 20 wickets, which looks quite daunting considering the follow-on that may occur, and some disciplined bowling will be needed.

The home side has an uphill task, with more hard work on batting first, and a strong and quick batting performance followed by bowling out J&K for lower score then their first innings score. This is not easy in a 5-day final where both the teams play patiently.

In the event of a drawn game, the team batting with the first innings lead will lift the trophy, which signifies the importance of the first innings score. Jammu & Kashmir will focus on batting for as long as they could possibly want, and Karnataka would look to gain the first innings lead, without any early declaration from the skipper.