Against a side that boasted of six international players, they not only had all their plans in place but also showed they had the fitness to do it
Vishal Dikshit25-Jan-2025Sweaty palms. Shuffling feet. Restless bodies.That’s what the Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) dugout looked like as their batters inched closer to their target of 205 against heavyweights Mumbai on the third day. Even though J&K were 144 for 4 and only 61 runs away, their last three wickets had been thrown away to left-arm spinner Shams Mulani on a pitch that barely had any turn on offer. The plan was, perhaps, to gun down some of those runs to pile some pressure on Mumbai. But when their two set batters stepped out, Shubham Khajuria (45) lost his stumps, and Vivrant Sharma (38) holed out to long-off.It was nerves, both in the middle and in the dugout. The big-hitting Abdul Samad hammered five fours in his 20-ball stay to wipe out 24 more runs, but he was stumped when he danced down and missed. The crowd that had been quiet was brought back to life, and they had another reason to cheer when J&K’s experienced captain Paras Dogra was caught spectacularly by a diving Shardul Thakur.Related
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Ajinkya Rahane rubbed the ball incessantly on his trackpants to try and maintain the shine. Forty-six to go, five wickets in hand. A few heads turned towards each other in the J&K dugout. Should they keep attacking or should they resort to a more cautious approach? Twenty-eight-year-old Abid Mushtaq and 23-year-old Kanhaiya Wadhawan, with an experience of barely 35 first-class games between them, took the more aggressive route.Mushtaq lofted Tanush Kotian for a six, Wadhawan swept Mulani and Kotian for more runs, and when Mushtaq swiped Kotian for a six to the midwicket boundary for the winning runs, the celebrations took off in the dugout. There were hugs and huddles, shrieks and high fives, while Mushtaq and Wadhawa completed the more formal handshakes in the middle with their opponents.These unknown names – except a couple that have featured in the IPL – had taken down the star-studded defending champions in their backyard. They overcame nerves, they read the conditions better, they overcame the gulf between the two teams on paper, and went to the top of the Group A table with a big chance of making the knockouts.It was a lot like how J&K had scripted their first Ranji win against Mumbai, over ten years ago at the Wankhede Stadium, while chasing a 200-plus total in tense moments. A side that comes from a state with troubled political history and violence, and with cricket infrastructure incomparable with what the Mumbai team has, is now among only three teams that have beaten Mumbai twice on their home ground in this format since 2006.Only a couple of players in the current J&K XI know what it’s like to beat Mumbai twice: Khajuriya and fast bowler Umar Nazir Mir. And they both played a starring role in the win on Saturday.Vivrant Sharma scored a steady 38 in the chase for J&K•PTI Khajuriya top-scored in both innings whereas Nazir handed Mumbai the big blows of Rohit Sharma, Rahane and Shivam Dube on the first morning with his movement and bounce. Nazir is the most experienced of J&K’s pace trio, which also has Auqib Nabi and Yudhvir Singh, and he led the attack with his towering frame to pounce on the pace-friendly conditions once Mumbai opted to bat.The Mumbai side had prepared by watching videos of the pace trio. But as it turned out, that wasn’t enough. The three J&K fast bowlers sent down the bulk of the overs – 90.2 out of 107.2 – and took all 19 wickets that fell to the bowlers. They were up against the most accomplished batting line-up in this Ranji round and bossed them like they were the least experienced. They were bowling to the most successful side in domestic history by a distance, but didn’t let it get to them. Did anyone even give them a chance against a side that boasted of six international players? Because J&K had none.If they got instant success in their first spells to reduce Mumbai to 47 for 7 and 101 for 7 across both innings, they showed they had the fitness to bowl long spells of eight or nine overs under the sun beating down when Mumbai’s tail tried to stage a comeback.Their accuracy in sticking to the tight lines and lengths with the new ball was a testimony to the plans they had in place. Their short-ball attack to centurion Thakur was proof that they had a Plan B for when the ball would get older, and conditions better for batting.”I think this season they’ve been doing really well,” Rahane said of J&K’s pace attack after the game on Saturday. “Their fast-bowling unit, we saw their videos [before the game]. I thought their bowling unit has been doing really well by bowling in the right areas. I thought they read the conditions really well at this wicket.”Nabi, who accounted for Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer and Dube, and later Thakur on the third morning, is not surprisingly the second-highest wicket-taker of the season so far with 38 wickets while averaging a stunning 12.94 with as many as five five-fors. Yudhvir took home the Player-of-the-Match award with his tally of seven wickets, and has 22 overall this season at 19.68. Nazir has 17 from just three games, and averages a barely believable 13.41.Even without the more accomplished and much quicker Umran Malik, the J&K quicks showed no challenge is impossible and no dream out of reach. Their next stop is Vadodara where they take on an in-form Baroda, and where conditions might favour spinners more. But first, it’s time to relish this rare feat and wipe the sweat off their forehead.
