Can J&K Ranji’s victory heal old wounds?

Jammu and Kashmir defeated favorites Karnataka in the Indian Cricket Championship to become the Indian cricket champions. ranji trophy finals. This is a wonderful and heartwarming Cinderella story set in a small state long considered a hopeless hope for cricket. Experts say no one watches the Ranji Trophy cricket match as it is not exciting and lacks top stars. But I followed the Ranji semi-finals and finals eagerly, and by the end, I was cheering Johnson until my voice was hoarse. There must be many viewers like me. Before this season, J&K had played 334 Ranji Trophy matches in 67 years but won only 45 of them. It took them 44 years to win their first game against the Services in 1982-83. But this year, it steadily eliminated one tough rival after another – Rajasthan, Hyderabad, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and finally seven-time champions Karnataka.Karnataka has five Test players – KL Rahul, Mayank Agrawal, Devdutt Padikkal, Karun Nair & Prasidh Krishna. Johnson & Johnson does not. A year ago, you would have been hard-pressed to name any member of his team. But it wins with commanding style.This is not just a cricket story. Unexpectedly, it provides a non-political avenue to help alienated Kashmiris feel part of mainstream India. They suddenly found themselves the kings of Ranji cricket, admired and applauded across India in a way that no one could have imagined just a year ago. May the youth of Kashmir, once tempted by terrorism, trade their Kalashnikovs for cricket bats!Kashmir’s notorious cricket crowd is known to cheer for Pakistan vs India matches. This sparked anti-nationalist accusations and jeers, calling for them to leave India for Pakistan.Kashmiris say this is a gross misunderstanding of their sentiments. My former Economic Times colleague Najib Mubaki said the state’s cricket crowd had no particular fondness for Pakistan but wanted to express their alienation from India and their anger at human rights abuses in the state. Therefore, Najib said, the cricket audience in Kashmir will cheer for any opponent of India – be it Pakistan or any other country.South Africa defeated India last week in the T-20 Super Eights of this World Cup. News reports from Srinagar said Kashmiris cheered for the South African team as they watched the match on television. Young people today are wary of public celebrations, as there are now tough laws prohibiting any behavior that could be construed as anti-national. But the law can’t change how they feel or who they cheer for.Can simply winning a cricket trophy change hearts and minds? No, that’s a stretch. But all the traditional means of ending Kashmir’s alienation — government jobs, industrial subsidies, encouraging tourism — have not yielded much results. There is hope for cricket because Kashmir, like the rest of India, is cricket crazy. Team sports are a great way to connect people from different communities. Football is the most watched sport in the world and Manchester United has millions of fans even in China and Africa. Cricket is not far behind.Once you play for a cricket team, all your teammates become valued partners, regardless of religion or region. The same is true, at least in part, for cricket spectators, which in India means almost everyone. Once upon a time, cheering for India was a way for Kashmiris to express their alienation. But now that J&K is the Ranji champion, cricket has the potential to address that alienation and bring Kashmiris and other Indians closer together. The state is now the epicenter of Indian cricket rather than an outsider. Ranji’s victory was the result of a team effort of six Hindus and five Muslims. It scored a huge score of 584 points in the first innings, Shubham Pondhir (Ever heard of him?) scored a century and five others scored half-centuries. But the star of J&K is undoubtedly fast bowler Auqib Nabi, nicknamed the ‘Baramulla Express’. The 29-year-old is a late-stage developer. But his bowling performances in the last two Ranji seasons have been so good that it seems a crime that he has not been included in the Indian Test squad.Nabi took 44 wickets last season and has taken 60 wickets this season, the most by any bowler. Despite a failed catch, he took one of Karnataka’s top batting stars with figures of 5 for 54 in Karnataka’s first innings. Earlier, he had led J&K against MP in the quarter-finals (12 wickets, 110 runs) and against Bengal in the semi-finals (9 wickets, 123 runs). His bowling average this season is a staggering 12.7 runs per wicket – anything below 20 is outstanding. Few bowlers can achieve a hat-trick – three wickets in three consecutive balls. But six months ago in the Duleep Trophy, Nabi (playing for North Zone) took four wickets in four consecutive balls, a feat so extraordinary that the cricketing world has yet to invent a word to describe it. Long live Kashmir! Long live India!