Hubballi, Feb 28: BCCI president Mithun Manhas was elated to see Jammu and Kashmir landing their maiden Ranji Trophy title, but his pragmatic mind has already zeroed in on the construction of new stadiums in the valley to take the cricket further forward.
After 67 years of toil, Jammu and Kashmir held eight-time champions Karnataka to a draw and bagged the coveted title by virtue of a massive 291-run first inning lead.
“It took us 67 years. It’s been a long journey to title. I’m very thankful to BCCI for giving us a state of the art facility academy in Jammu where we’ll be having indoor facilities, swimming pool, gymnasium and the same we will be doing in Kashmir,” Manhas said in a select media interaction after the Ranji Trophy final here on Saturday.
“Now, what we want is the stadiums coming up in both the places — Jammu and Kashmir, and not only in J&K for that matter, in Rajouri, Poonch and Chenab as well because this team has got players from everywhere.
“So that’s the need of the hour and the elections are going to happen now. Hopefully, we’ll get the funds from the BCCI,” he added.
Manhas, who has a long association with cricket in J&K, lauded skipper Paras Dogra for bringing a sense of calm to the team’s dressing room.
Manhas had roped in Dogra as J&K skipper when the former was working with the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA).
“We were looking for a captain. I think in Paras we found the right captain. He’s coming from Himachal, he knows the conditions in J&K pretty well. He’s played a lot of cricket in England, which makes him a thorough professional.
“He’s the kind of guy who is rarely aggressive. He’s very calm, quiet, and goes about his business in a very structured and meticulous way. So that was one calming effect we had in the dressing room,” Manhas said.
“You know, we northern boys are very aggressive with each other. That’s how we are. But he had one calming effect. So, I think everything started falling in place for us,” he noted.
Jay Shah’s vision for J&K cricket
The former BCCI secretary Jay Shah, who is currently heading the International Cricket Council, took special attention to improve the standards of cricket, Manhas revealed.
“The association before us, they tried their level best. But the real game-changer happened when the BCCI formed the sub-committee way back in 2021. We are very thankful to Jai bhai and his vision, the way he made this committee, keeping in mind the administration part, the cricketing part, and involving the right players.” In fact, Shah visited the region extensively during his tenure at BCCI to get first-hand knowledge of J & K cricket.
“He was the first secretary in the history of J&K in 67 years to come to Jammu and see the facilities himself. Once he was there and he showed us his full support, things started moving in the right direction.
“We got a lot of flak way back because of the system. There used to be a quota of 8 (players) from Srinagar and 8 from Jammu. We never believed in such a system. There’s only one quota and that is merit for us.
“Before us, in a season, there used to be 28 players or 30 players. But once we got involved, we saw that the system had to be set in place.” Manhas said Shah’s idea of forming the Cricket Advisory Committee had a cathartic influence on J&K cricket.
“We formed a CAC to start with. That included Abdul Qayyum from Kashmir, the premier fast bowler. He’s played about 48 matches. He was a star bowler for J&K. Then we involved Ashwini Gupta who’s played about 78 first-class games.
“There’s a female cricketer who played at the highest level — Rupali, so all were involved. Then luckily we were able to find good selectors. I think all the selectors we have now, they’ve played for J&K. The minimum matches that they’ve played is 35. They’ve captained J&K and they’ve played for North Zone as well.
“So we got in all the competitors who had the experience and who knew what it takes to rise. So once the system was in place, we all started moving in the right direction.” Manhas then explained how the Shah-led panel made on-ground changes to improve the quality of cricket in the valley.
“Now the challenge that we got was that we were doing well in North Zone and East Zone matches. But we were not up to the mark when we played in West and South. So, we imported the red soil from Maharashtra and we made wickets.
“Now we have about 10-12 red soil wickets and 10-12 black soil wickets. So, the process was still on but we made sure that we played on the right tracks and the right things needed to be done.
“Then what we did was we played with the SG Test balls. All the camps that we conducted were with the SG balls and Kookaburra balls for the players to get used to it.” (Agencies)
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