Is J&K team only prepared to beat the likes of Meghalaya and Nagaland?
Million Dollar Players in the Xi yet J&K are seen performing as minnows.
The Jammu and Kashmir side started its current Syed Mushtaq Ali campaign with two defeats in as many matches and it has been no different in the recent past.
Back then it used to be said that J&K players lack exposure and that was cited as a reason for their incompetence but it ain’t the same now.
Why? Because They have 4 IPL players in the form of Umran Malik, Abdul Samad, Yudhvir Singh and Vivrant Sharma. Umran malik has represented India and is rated so highly but his performances for J&K is poor, more often than not he returns with dismal figures and it is no different with Abdul Samad, the highly talented youngster has played 34 IPl matches 9 more than the likes of Tilak Verma but his performances with his state side are shoddy. Vivrant Sharma bagged 26M INR IPL deal last year and did get few matches to play for his IPL side and showed a lot of promise but his allround returns with J&K this season are no different to Samad and Umran. Yudhvir has been rising to the occassion but you can’t win on individual performances.The Likes of Aquib Nabi, Nasir Lone have also given their services to IPL franchises as net bowlers but for state side they are yet to hit their mark.
The point here is not about their performances but it is about exposure and experience and J&K now has got plenty of it, but when it comes down to the domestic fray their execution nowhere to be seen. It seems they have lost the mantra of competing.
JKCA banned the players from local cricket so citing matting cricket as the reason. With the players being banned from local cricket, can we say that the players dont get to practice much? Yes we can, because JKCA themselves dont organise tournaments wherein the players that are in fray get to play and be match ready.
Are J&K going to beat only Meghalya, Nagaland and these lesser teams? Can’t they compete with more powerful teams? How long will it go? At what point will J&K be reckoned as a team to beat in domestic circuit? Well for now it seems a distant dream. Today J&K were beaten by Hyderabad and they only had 1 IPL player in their line-up compared to J&k’s 4. J&K is not less on exposure and experience for some reasons they are made to look like school boys on the field. Sadly, they are not even able to compete now with top ranked domestic teams.
The Talent is in bulk but application and execution is Diminishive. We can only hope against the hope. But it is never too late to hit your straps and we expect them to hit theirs soon.
