Kuldeep Sen produced a fiery spell of fast bowling for Madhya Pradesh to dismantle Jammu & Kashmir on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy 2025-26 quarter-finals at the Holkar Stadium in Indore on Friday.
The 29-year-old quick, part of the Rajasthan Royals squad in the IPL, returned with figures of 5/66 from 15 overs as J&K were bowled out for 194.
This was Kuldeep’s third five-wicket haul in first-class cricket. His career best figures of 5/62 came in Madhya Pradesh’s Ranji Trophy match against Punjab in 2018.
Kuldeep, who has represented India in ODI cricket, broke the opening stand by removing Yawer Hassan in the 17th over and struck again in his next to dismiss Shubham Pundir, leaving J&K wobbling at 30/2.
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He then ended opposition skipper Paras Dogra’s resistance with a sharp rising delivery to further dent Jammu & Kashmir’s innings at 113/4.
Lower down the order, Yudhvir Singh, also a Royal, counter-attacked with 41 off 35 balls, striking three fours and three sixes.
His 42-run ninth-wicket stand with Vanshaj Sharma gave J&K some respite, but Sen returned to clean up both and close the innings.
Kuldeep, playing his 29th first-class match, has now picked up 74 wickets at an average of 31.40.
