Jammu & Kashmir captain Paras Dogra headbutted Karnataka substitute fielder KV Aneesh during the 2025/26 Ranji Trophy final.
Ugly incident in Ranji Trophy final
Playing in their first ever Ranji Trophy final, J&K had finished the first day of the match on 284-2. Opener Yawer Hassan had fallen for 88, his maiden first-class fifty, but Shubham Pundir had scored a hundred by stumps.
Dogra, who became the second cricketer to score 10,000 Ranji Trophy runs during the semi-final, had been hit on collarbone with a vicious bouncer. The Karnataka fast bowlers peppered him with the short ball, and he had retired hurt on nine when Prasidh Krishna hit him on the glove.
Dogra returned on the second morning to join wicketkeeper Kanhaiya Wadhwan after Pundir (121) and Abdul Samad (61) both departed. J&K were on 307-4 at that point.
In the 101st over, Wadhwan hit Prasidh (who had taken three of the four wickets until then) for consecutive boundaries before running a single. Dogra fended the next ball, pitched short, and it raced past gully for four.
Words were uttered (it is not clear what), and Dogra proceeded towards substitute fielder KV Aneesh, who had been standing at silly mid-off. What followed was as close to a headbutt as possible between two people in helmets. Fielding captain Devdutt Padikkal intervened, as did the umpires, Rohan Pandit and Ulhas Gandhe.
It is worth a mention that Dogra made his first-class debut in 2001, the year Aneesh was born.
Shikhar Shetty eventually got Wadhwan, caught by KL Rahul at first slip, for 70 to end the 110-run stand. At the time of writing, J&K were 425-5 with Dogra (49) and Sahil Lotra (4) at the crease.
