Jammu and Kashmir are often considered as one of the minnows in the Ranji Trophy. Having started to take part in the 1959-60 season, their first win did not come until the 1982-83 season when they defeated Services by four wickets.
Jammu and Kashmir’s biggest win in Ranji Trophy came in 2014. As the rest of Ranji teams were preparing in the training nets and exercising in the gyms, the valley players were rescuing their family and friends from the devastating floods that had hit Kashmir.
Right hand batsman, Samiuallah Beigh, who resides from Soura area of Srinagar city, recalls that he was distributing relief packets to the locals just weeks before clash against Mumbai. As doubts began to cast shadow on the game, the players somehow coordinated a meeting in central Srinagar and arrived at the location by boats.
Jammu and Kashmir coach Sunil Joshi arranged the team’s flight to Nagpur so that they can train for the highly anticipated clash against Mumbai.
Playing at the Wankhede Stadium for the first time, no one game J&K a chance against mighty Mumbai. Packed with star players like Wasim Jaffar, Abhishek Nayar, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer and many more, Mumbai were restricted to 236 all out on Day 1. Captain Suryakumar Yadav was the top scorer for the home side scoring 57. For the visitors Ram Dayal and Wasim Raja picked three wickets each.
In reply, Shubham Khajuria scored a brilliant ton and Ian Dev Singh scored a well made 70 to take J&K to 254 giving them a slender lead of 18 in the first innings. Vishal Dabholkar was the pick of the bowlers for Mumbai with figures of 3/30.
Umar Nazir ran through the top order of Mumbai Kevin Almeida, Aditya Tare, Dhawal Kulkarni in quick succession. Suryakumar Yadav watched wickets tumbling from the other end as he tried to study the ship for Mumbai. Yadav dragged his team to a respectable total of 254 completing his ton in the process. He was too dismissed by Nazir who finished with impressive figures of 4/49.
Ram Dayal cleaned up the middle and lower order of Mumbai and was the pick of J&K bowlers with figures of 5/76.
Chasing a target of 237, J&K got off to a decent start. Shubham Khajuria played some gorgeous strokes to change J&K’s hope into expectancy. After a couple of quick wickets, Parvez Rasool and Ian Dev Singh steadied the ship scoring 32 and 30 respectively. The job was completed by Hardeep Singh who scored an unbeaten 41 to give J&K a memorable win by 4 wickets over Mumbai.
Shubham Khajuria was declared Man of the Match for scoring 107 and 78 in two innings.
“Beating Mumbai at home is a great achievement. When we reached the Elite division there were people who wondered whether we deserved to be here. We have answered them now,” Parvez Rasool said after the match.
With this win J&k Cricket Team showed their courage and determination to overcome the emotional situation in their state and beat one of the most decorated teams in Ranji Trophy in their own backyard.
Read More: Parvez Rasool: A Pioneer for Kashmir’s Cricket Community
Mohd Faisal Hakak is a sports author from Kashmir. He likes to keep tabs on the sporting world with a keen interest in football, motorsports, NBA, and other marquee sports. He is a science graduate from Islamia College Srinagar.
