The Jammu and Kashmir cricket team was disheveled when the now-former state went into lockdown as the central government stripped it of its special status by removing the Article 370 and 35 A. An advisory by the central government saw the cricket team being asked to leave the state.

However, help came from mentor Irfan Pathan, who after a month of inactivity from early August till the start of September, spoke to officials of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association, including CEO Ashiq Ali Bukhari and planned to give advertisements on television which drew the Kashmiri players to report to the JKCA office in Jammu.

The players are now practicing in the Moti Bagh Ground in Baroda as they prepare for the upcoming domestic season of the Board of Control for Cricket in India. “The plan worked after we put out the advertisement in late August. Then we decided to bring them to Baroda and hold a camp before the Vijay Hazare Trophy,” Irfan told IANS.

The current camp started on August 6 under the eyes of Irfan Pathan, who says, “We had started the camp in mid-June and we had made good progress. When the camp got called off in early August, it was time for the matches and training. We know that we are running behind time but we needed to find a way to make sure boys stay in a good frame of mind to play a certain level of cricket.”

“When I met them, they did look rusty due to lack of training. But in the next couple of weeks they will pick up hopefully,” said Irfan.

Irfan, the winner of ICC World T20 and having appeared 29 Tests, 120 ODIs and 24 T20Is for India, was optimistic about the chances of the J&K players and said, “We need to think about now. We need to think about getting back to playing cricket. Once the tournament starts, expectations will automatically come. This camp will go on for a maximum of two weeks.”

(IANS Inputs)