New Delhi, Feb. 28 -- It was a team that has spent decades on the margins of Indian domestic cricket, but on Saturday, as captain Paras Dogra declared the innings at 2:10pm, Jammu & Kashmir were no longer the underdogs. They defeated eight-time winners Karnataka with a first innings lead. They were champions, history-makers, first of their names.

For the first time since their Ranji journey began in 1959, the union territory has a title win to call its own. A moment carved out of resilience and an unshakeable belief that they belonged, despite infrastructural and systematic deficits.

The bigwigs of the administration and the political were all there at Hubballi - witnessing men from the Valleys and the plains etch a moment for a lifetim...