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'We ensured that the best get selected, no favouritism or regionalism.'
Jammu and Kashmir are back with a bang!
After a barren run in the last five years, the J&K team have upset much-fancied opponents to make it to the last eight stage of the Ranji Trophy after a long gap.
Having stunned defending champions Mumbai in their backyard, J&K staved off Baroda's challenge on a tough pitch in Vadodara to qualify for their first Ranji Trophy quarter-final in five years.
This is only the third time in their cricketing history that J&K have advanced to the last eight stage, having earlier got there in 2013-2014 and 2019-2020.
Facing Kerala in the quarter-finals in Pune from February 8, J&K will look to script history as they aim to make it to the Ranji Trophy semi-finals for the first time ever.
J&K's success story is a result of some meticulous planning and structured development over the last few years.
The transformation began when a three-member BCCI committee, led by Brigadier Anil Gupta (retd), along with advocate Sunil Sethi and former cricketer Mithun Manhas, took charge of J&K cricket in 2021.
Their tenure has ushered in a new era of transparency, confidence-building, and infrastructural upgrades as the J&K team scales new heights.
Which other team in India can boast of an unbeaten record against 42-time Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai?
J&K are the only team to have all-win record against Mumbai, having beaten them in both games played -- in 2013-2014 and this season.
Their victory in Mumbai last month was down to some detailed planning by the JKCA and execution by the players. The J&K players arrived in the city 10 days before their match against Mumbai and practiced at the Air India ground in Kalina, north west Mumbai, to get used to the conditions and the pitches.
Back home, the JKCA has already introduced red-soil pitch at the GGM Science College ground in Jammu to familiarise their team with playing on pitches found in the western and southern states.
Another big change has been to introduce both Kookaburra and SG balls for players across age groups in the stage.
"Transparency in selection, confidence in players, giving them the best of facilities, good coaches, enough match practice, pre-tournament matches and the belief that they can win. I think that is what has made the change this season," Brigadier Gupta tells Harish Kotian/Rediff.com.
"The team is motivated, the players are mentally tough, the dressing room is cordial and the players are enjoying. There is a good bonhomie in the group and that is what makes the difference."
Brigadier Gupta believes ending regionalism in the selection process proved to be the big factor in the turnaround.
"We set the process in motion. One of the main things was the selection process, we made it very transparent, we ensured that the best get selected, no favouritism or regionalism. J&K cricket was marred with regionalism, so we stopped that."
"The best team was selected and we persisted with that. Their performance in the last two years was not that good but we still persisted with the players because we had the faith in them. We had the same coaches continue with them for the last three years. That's what made the difference."
"We laid new turf pitches. Today we have seven turf wickets in Srinagar, seven turf wickets in Jammu, we have practice turf wickets for practice against seam and spin both in Srinagar and Jammu. Then we prepared red clay wickets in Jammu to prepare our team for such kind of pitches.
"If you see that proved to be the big difference as the last two matches in Mumbai and Vadodara were played on red soil wickets but since our players had practiced on those kind of pitches they were confident."
J&K stand just three matches away from a dream Ranji Trophy title.
Given how the team has fared in the league stage, not many will bet against them achieving the feat.
Brigadier Gupta says they are not looking too far ahead and merely taking it one match at a time.
"Inshallah, we hope to do that. But as has been our philosophy during this Ranji Trophy we take it game by game. We have three games left, we take it game by game.
"We are now focusing only on the quarter-finals, we are hopeful and we will give it our best but our aim is to get the trophy."
This season started with a bang for J&K as opener Shubham Khajuria's 255 helped take a first innings lead against Maharashtra led by Ruturaj Gaikwad in a high-scoring draw.
The very fact that they managed to outscore Maharashtra in the first innings proved to be a big early boost, while also claiming three points for the first innings lead.
Abdul Samad scored centuries in both innings but J&K narrowly missed out on a deserved victory against Odisha at Cuttack. Having conceded a narrow first innings lead of just two runs, J&K went all out for victory but fell short by two wickets to collect just a single point.
J&K trounced Services by an innings and 25 runs to underline their credentials and get their campaign back on track after two draws.
Pacers Auqib Nabi and Yudhvir Singh bagged five wickets each in the first innings, while Umar Nazir Mir took 6/53 in the second to bowl J&K to an easy win in front of home fans at the Sher-i-Kashmir Stadium, in Srinagar.
The bowlers were again dominant against Meghalaya in the match played in Shillong. Pacer Nabi took 5/14 in nine overs, while left-arm spinner Abid Mishtaq took 5/19 in 15.3 overs as the hosts were bundled out for 73 before J&K responded with 194 to take a sizeable 121 run lead on a tough pitch.
Nabi bagged another five wicket haul in the second innings before J&K chased down 75 for their second victory in a row.
Fast bowler Nabi continued his red hot form against Tripura with a 10-wicket match haul to bowl the hosts to a hard earned four-wicket win.
Vivrant Sharma (60) and Abid Mushtaq (53) hit unbeaten fifties, putting on an unbroken stand of 82 runs for the seventh wicket as J&K chased down 202 for their third straight victory in November.
J&K continued the momentum despite the Ranji Trophy resuming after a two-month break. Defending champions Mumbai struggled to cope with J&K's pace battery on a green pitch as they crumbled for 120 after electing to bat.
The star-studded Mumbai featuring Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube and Shardul Thakur proved to be no match for J&K, who were clinical with both bat and ball.
The pace trio of Nabi, Umar Nazir and Yudhvir Charak sent Mumbai crashing for 120 before the visitors led by Khajuria's 53 posted 206 to take a vital 86 run lead.
Mumbai responded with a much-better batting effort in the second innings, as they put on 290 courtesy of Thakur's 119.
Chasing 205 for victory was never going to be easy against Mumbai in their own backyard but J&K's batting line-up showed great resolve and commitment in the run chase.
Khajuria top-scored with 45, but they also had important contributions from Vivrant (38), Abid Mushtaq (32 not out), Yawer Hassan (24) and Samad (24) as they clinched an important five wicket win to boost their hopes of making it to the quarter-finals.
J&K's final-round clash against Baroda at the Reliance stadium in Vadodara proved to be a controversial game. The visitors refused to bat on Day 3 as they alleged that the pitch was 'tampered' with overnight to help the home team.
After a delay of more than an hour, J&K were convinced to continue their second innings. They were in complete command after taking a 80 run first innings lead and further consolidated their position by scoring 284 in their second.
Khajuria once again rose to the occasion with a solid knock of 94, while wicketkeeper Kanhaiya Wadhawan contributed with 84.
Chasing 365 for victory, Baroda crumbled with the bat in the second innings. Off-spinner Sahil Lotra starred with 7/75 as the hosts were sent crashing for 182.
J&K finished top of the points table in Elite Group A with 35 points from seven games which included five victories, qualifying ahead of Mumbai, who managed to sneak into the quarters ahead of Baroda.
The Parag Dogra-led J&K will fancy their chances of making it to the semi-finals as they take on Kerala. The hosts were denied the home advantage as the match originally scheduled to be played in Srinagar had to be shifted to Pune due to 'potential weather concerns'.
It has been a dream season for J&K. Their pacer Nabi is the second highest wicket-taker of the league stage with 38 wickets from seven matches at an average of 13, while Khajuria is sixth in the run-getters list with 663 runs at an average of 55, with four fifties and a century.
Will J&K's incredible run culminate in a historic semi-final berth? If their performances from the league stages are any indicator, they certainly have what it takes to go all the way.