Team fail to win any Ranji game, lose all six Hazare matches
Bickering within Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA), recent political drama followed by poor selection and lack of activities on the domestic front have taken a toll on the performance of the state cricket team this season.
Unlike 2014, when J&K created history by defeating formidable Mumbai, this year, the state team was in news for all the wrong reasons as they failed to win even a single Ranji Trophy game. The team also lost all the six matches in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Sources said one of the main reasons behind the dismal performance of the team in Ranji Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy was lack of domestic activities and alleged politics in the selection of the team.
“Last season, our team registered three wins in Vijay Hazare Trophy and missed qualification for the knockouts by a thin margin. But there is nothing to cheer about the team’s performance this year thanks to internal bickering and politics within the JKCA. Nobody cares about bringing improvement in the team,” a state cricketer said on condition of anonymity.
“Before the selection of the team for Ranji Trophy, it is necessary for the state cricket body to conduct tournaments to pick probables for various regional level tournaments. But unfortunately this year, nothing like that happened,” said the cricketer.
“Already the multi-crore scam, which is being probed by the CBI, has earned a bad name to the state cricket and now, the ongoing political drama has further dented the image of our team,” he added.
Sources said the “unceremonious exit” of former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah from the JKCA had also affected the morale of cricketers in the state.
Farooq remained the head of the state cricket body for 35 years before being replaced by Minister for Sports Imran Raza Ansari earlier this year. Farooq, however, has obtained a stay order on the JKCA results and the matter remains pending in court.
The present mess in the state cricket body can be gauged from the fact that recently two teams representing J&K, each claiming to be the original Ranji Trophy squad, had reached Dharamsala to play against Himachal Pradesh.
A JKCA office bearer, meanwhile, told that the state body could not organise enough tournaments at domestic level because of lack of funds. “There is paucity of funds and we are not able to conduct activities in both provinces. It obviously had an impact on the performance of our team this season,” said the office bearer.
