J&K captain brushes aside head-butt incident in Ranji Trophy final as ‘heat of the moment’

Jammu and Kashmir captain Paras Dogra on Wednesday played down the on-field incident in which he head-butted Karnataka’s KV Aneesh during the second day of the Ranji Trophy final.

Dogra got into a heated exchange with substitute fielder Aneesh and head-butted him on the helmet after hitting a boundary off Prasidh Krishna.

The J&K batter, who scored 70, had earlier been beaten by a delivery from the India pacer that went past the slip cordon, which led to words being exchanged.

Speaking about the day’s play, where J&K reached 527/6 to take control, Dogra said, “Very good, to be honest. We are in a good position.”

“That’s what matters for me. All that keeps happening and especially when you are playing a final or something (like that), a bit of it happens,” he said, as cited by news agency PTI.

“It was just in a little heat of the moment. Not a big thing. Yeah, it is all settled now. That’s (a hot day) a different thing and it was momentary. We started talking and chatting after that so it’s all well,” Dogra added.

He said J&K would try to bat for as long as possible to push for a result through a first-innings lead.

“No, we haven’t set a target, to be honest. We can get the result from the first innings lead as well so we will try to bat as long as we can,” he said.

“Mostly everyone (in J&K camp) is satisfied but still we can go (bat) long. Everyone knows Karnataka is a good batting side. We would try to put as many runs as we can,” Dogra said.

Dogra shared a 110-run stand for the sixth wicket with Kanhaiya Wadhawan, who made 70. He said their plan was to stay at the crease.

“(We spoke about) having a good partnership. Let’s dig in because this time won’t come again. Try to give your best and take the team in a good position,” he said.

Dogra also mentioned that he prepared for short-pitched bowling before the start of play but did not comment on Karnataka’s bowlers.

“I can’t comment on all those things. But we have worked hard. We have batted really well and that’s why we have put a good score on the board. I will never say anything about the bowlers,” he said.

“I had a talk with Ajay Sharma sir and Dishant Yagnik, our fielding coach. In the morning (when) I came, I did a one-hour drill for it (short pitch bowling).”