Irfan Pathan and the Jammu and Kashmir cricket story

The story of cricket in Jammu and Kashmir can only be told in pieces – their cricket has been bits and pieces. The Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) has been there since 1970 and their best performance in Ranji Trophy was registered in the 2013-14 season where they qualified for the quarter-finals. Parvez Rasool was the skipper then, he is to date the most popular player from the state and the only to have made this upward journey into the Indian cricket team.

Where is this coming from is the fact that in 48 years of its existence J&K haven’t produced the kind of players and the results that were expected. Is there a dearth of talent? We don’t know. There had never been an extensive talent hunt of sorts in the state. Things seem to be changing in the valley now and the man whose initiated this change is Irfan Pathan. He has all the support from the CEO Ashiq Bukhari who is a former DIG and administrator justice CK Prasad.

There have been huge gaps in the association and the functioning – to fill it to some extent Jammu and Kashmir High Court had to appoint a CEO and an ombudsman to take over the administration and dissolve various issues within the association and those with the clubs.

They signed up Pathan who was looking for a new team as a player-cum mentor. Sources close to the developments suggested that he was also offered the captaincy but the former Indian seamer was adamant that it rather be with a local name players can more relate with. He isn’t alone, Irfan has J&K skipper Parvez Rasool who doesn’t just understand their cricket but has also seen the bigger picture having represented India at the highest level. The duo along with all the other elements in the state association will want to make things happen.

Change is in the air

The administrators addressed two things – one the need for a structure – the other Irfan’s experience as a cricketer and his eye as an operations man who without a lot of administrative experience understand the nitty-gritty.

What 18 years of professional cricket has taught the 33-year-old is the importance of “process”.

He admitted that he has no magic wand in his hand that he can wave and get them the results. “When I first met and talked to CEO, Mr Bukhari and administrator justice CK Prasad, I got a feeling that they wanted to set things in motion. They didn’t expect me to come here and turn things around overnight, which frankly isn’t possible. I don’t carry a magic wand with me that can just get things done. However, our focus at the moment is on building a structure, giving all the guys a feeling of being a part of a larger scene, identifying talent and planning all this I believe will get us fruits in the next few years.”

JKCA for the first time organised a cricket tournament across all districts of both Jammu and Kashmir. In the past, there were only two centres for cricket in the state. The turnout didn’t just surprise Pathan but the association as well.

Overwhelming turnaround

One word he uses with delight is “keenness”. He feels that there is will on part of JKCA to bring about a change, he saw a lot of interest among the players who participated in the tournament and all this gives him positive indications that things can certainly change. Irfan’s emphasis is on the players, to understand them and to be there for them and share his experience. He wants the inexperienced J&K cricketers to benefit from his experience that is almost worth two decades now where he’s seen everything from playing age-group cricket to winning the World T20.

“We got hundreds of kids for all the matches, even the organizers were pleasantly surprised. 4-5 selectors went to all the districts, they’ve observed and identified the players who have potential and should be streamlined. Roughly 40-50,000 is the number of kids we got. It was fun to watch them play on a turf wicket for the first time. All the matches here would be played on matting wickets which is very different,” Pathan told CricTracker during a chat from Kashmir, while also adding that around 100 kids will be handpicked from these and recommended to the association.

JKCA will then host camps for the players, give them the right kind of infrastructure, facilities to train, induce the most appropriate methods and bring them in practice. The emphasis in the camp will be on their skills, to help them identify technical or other flaws in their basic game. Which will be eventually ironed out and then further narrow down the number of boys who will play practice matches as a part of the team selection strategy.

At this point Irfan feels fitness is a huge challenge, they have to introduce the young cricketers to various practices employed at the professional level. The plan is also to prepare them for the yo-yo test. More importantly, he feels the mindset needs to change.

Last time JKCA hosted a camp was back in 2011 when former Indian spinner Bishen Singh Bedi was appointed the coach.

The cricketer who played 29 Tests, 120 ODIs and 24 T20Is for India is a part of the decision making at all stages and is grateful for the support he has got from the officials as well as captain Rasool and others involved.

Irfan’s captaincy record in the Ranji Trophy:

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