‘Special thanks to Jay Shah bhai’ – BCCI President Mithun Manhas thanks ex-Secretary after Jammu & Kashmir’s historic Ranji Trophy win

The Board of Control for Cricket in India President Mithun Manhas has given his vote of thanks to former secretary and current ICC chairman Jay Shah for developing cricket in Jammu & Kashmir, which has come to fruition after the side won their first-ever Ranji Trophy title by defeating Karnataka in the finals of the 2025-26 season.

Manhas, who has also served as the director of cricket at Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA), said that Shah was among the very few who looked after J&K and improved the conditions and upgrading the cricketing infrastructure in the state, the results of which are clearly showing, as the Paras Dogra-led side not only played their first-ever final but also won it 67 years after their maiden season.

“It has been an amazing journey, starting in June 2021. I want to specially thank the BCCI back then and especially Jay (Shah) bhai. He was the first secretary (in decades) who came to Jammu and saw our condition, and there was no looking back,” Manhas was quoted as saying after the win.

Manhas has also credited J&K captain Paras Dogra and head coach Ajay Sharma for providing their decades of experience to a side where cricket was seen as a participating thing rather than a winning thing. The BCCI President believes that having seniors like Paras and Ajay exuded confidence within the dressing room, ultimately leading them to a historic win. 

I am a person of process and believe you need to have seniors around. With Paras coming, we got this stability and calmness, and with Ajay bhai, he has the experience of playing five finals. The kind of batting he used to do, that has helped the boys grow. The best part that has happened is they have started believing in themselves.

“This win is dedicated to all of the people back home and all ex-cricketers back home. All the other teams, like Uttarakhand, played exceedingly well, and they have also started believing. It is only a matter of time before the results will follow,” Manhas concluded.

Notably, Jammu & Kashmir became the eighteenth team in history to win a Ranji Trophy title. Mumbai, 42, have the most titles in the red-ball tournament, while Karnataka – the side whom J&K beat in the finals – are still the second-most successful side with eight titles to their name.