Auqib Nabi made his Ranji Trophy debut in January 2020, just before Covid struck, and the pandemic cost him two good years away from top-level action. He is one of the pace bowlers starring for Jammu and Kashmir at Hubballi this week as they chase their first Ranji title — shaped, like the rest of this team, by Irfan Pathan’s coaching in conditions no other domestic side would have experienced.
Irfan Pathan arrived as coach in the 2017-18 season and stayed until the deteriorating security situation forced him to leave for his own safety in 2019. He insisted on four-to-five months of fitness and skills camps — not just ten days before the season, as had been the custom — but the squad ran into a roadblock peculiar to India’s northernmost state.
Fazil Rashid, a key part of that squad, recalls those torrid times. Getting 25 probables to assemble at one spot required a gargantuan effort.
“This was around the 2018-19 season, when there had been a big attack in Kashmir. Team ko nikaalne mein problem hui thi,” Fazil recalls. “Internet was shut down, and we were due to assemble for an important skills camp. For a cricketer preparing for Ranji Trophy, one month’s gap in training is a massive loss. But because communications were down, they couldn’t reach us.”
The plan was to relocate the group to Motibaug in Baroda, where Pathan would prepare them for the season. With no internet or phone lines, management took an unusual route.
“They decided TV news was the only way. There used to be a 7 pm newscast that most families tuned in to,” Fazil recalls. “They ran a continuous scroll with the time and date to reach the airport, and hoped all the probables would see it. It was hectic, because there was no way of knowing if the message was getting through. But Irfan Sir tried. Getting the whole squad to Motibaug, where cricket practice resumed normally, is an unforgettable moment for everyone in J&K cricket.”
J&K’s effort to post 580-odd at Hubbali — with seven batters lasting at least 100 balls — is a tribute to the current coaching team of Ajay Sharma and Dishant Yagnik, and the discipline drilled in by Mithun Manhas. But things were quite different when Pathan first arrived.
“Earlier, batsmen would be satisfied to score one fifty in a season, and that was their biggest ambition — and I don’t blame them. Without a proper system, you first had to ensure your spot in the team was safe, because most came from middle-class families,” Fazil recalls. “Hume halkaa leti thi sab teams.” J&K were treated as pushovers.
What Pathan did was make every player feel special. “He said we are not here to just participate, but to fight. He had quite the temper when someone was happy to win just one session or match in a season.” The alleged sledges of “no technique” weren’t first heard at Hubbali — they had been thrown at J&K batsmen for decades. “Irfan Sir said: answer with the bat,” Fazil recalls. Eight years later, the team made him proud.
Along with Milap Mewada and a coach from the NCA, Pathan brought formal fitness training and bespoke modules for J&K players. “For Abdul Samad, Irfan Sir talked to him about playing the ball, not the bowler — and about when to hit sixes, because Test cricket isn’t about boundaries from ball one. For the likes of Khajuria, Pundir, Samad, he worked on shot selection and on badi batting — long batting — through two-day matches. His preparation was for all formats.”
At Motibaug, the team also experienced training in heat and humidity for the first time. “It’s not just about the heat, but how the pitch behaves, how the ball moves. Jammu didn’t have turning tracks then, so at that skills camp, we learned about different pitches, soil types, temperature, and how it all affects cricket,” Fazil recalls.
The improvements weren’t only on the field. Even playing kits — taken for granted by every other domestic association — were a luxury until 2018.
“Earlier if we got eight sets of bottoms and jerseys, now we got sixteen. Clothing ki quality mein aasmaan zameen ka fark tha. We used to be soaked in sweat playing in the south, and it was always at the back of your mind that this isn’t like the mountains. Irfan Sir would send an email, and it would get done.”
Speaking before the start of the final, Fazil said: “I’m so proud of my team. Others see J&K as a threat now. Batting unit, middle order, spin, pace bowling — we are as good as anyone. A dream is within grasp.”
At the academy Irfan Pathan runs in Jaipur, the former J&K coach still offers a generous discount on fees to any cricketer from Jammu and Kashmir. Some debts, it seems, you keep paying forward.
