Ranji Trophy: Spirited Jammu and Kashmir aim for bigger stage

PUNE: Jammu and Kashmir are roaring back after a couple of ordinary seasons, despite facing unprecedented challenges.
J&K do not want to be rewritten as just another team that can be easily beaten in domestic cricket anymore. With a dominating start to their Ranji Trophy campaign, they have taken the initial strides. After thrashing Uttarakhand by 253 runs in their first match, they took down Maharashtra for a second straight away win.
They had won three matches in all last season and remained in Group C after suffering five defeats.It usually came down to the all-rounders Parvez Rasool and Irfan Pathan, with the bat and the ball respectively, when they were in trouble. The team’s performance is noteworthy especially in the absence of injured Rasool and Irfan. The latter is now coach cum mentor.
J&K coach Milap Mewada who is into his second season with the team has revamped the side. He held a month-long camp in Srinagar earlier this year, holding personal training sessions every day with a bunch of players he wanted to improve.
J&K went from 42-5 to 209 in the first innings against Maharashtra at Gahunje, thanks to opener Ahmad Banday’s 76 in seam-friendly conditions. Those runs eventually were the difference as the visitors won by 54 runs.
Even Mewada was pleasantly suprised. “Every time that our top-order falters, we collapse and that has been the history of this team. Even with the damp pitch, which was incredibly bad to bat on initially, we added good enough runs,” said the Vadodara-based coach. “We have never batted like this. It is a transformation that was apparent.”
Even when the cricketers from the Valley were watching the proceedings from the pavilion, they showed their competitive attitude and school-boyish enthusiasm.
J&K will get a chance to gallop ahead in the table since they are playing four of the remaining seven Ranji games at home in Jammu.
The cold and overcast conditions are expected to give headache to the visiting teams and help the team captained by Shubham Pundir. Their pacemen have taken 34 wickets in four innings.
Mewada said that the objective will be to grab bonus points in the coming games.
J&K had made it to the knockouts from the Plate division in 2013-14 where they lost to Punjab in the quarterfinals. With a promising start this season, they can wipe out a tag of perennial underdogs.