J&K’s Ranji Trophy triumph shows cricket in every nook and corner of India: Rahul Dravid

The story of Indian cricket’s phenomenal success has been about its expanding geography as much as its history-making, going deep into places where domestic cricket has spread its roots. So even as Rahul Dravid congratulated the five ICC title-winning teams – Women’s U19 and seniors in ODIs, and T20, Champions Trophy and U19 winning men’s teams, he reckoned the Cinderella story of the last year was Jammu & Kashmir winning the Ranji Trophy. “It’s a wonderful win for Jammu & Kashmir, though unfortunately it came against Karnataka, so I’m not too happy about that though I know you tried hard Rahul,” Dravid quipped to KL at the BCCI awards. But along with Vaibhav Suryavanshi emerging from Bihar, Dravid would credit BCCI for taking cricket into small cities, to every nook and corner of the country. Why Indian cricket seems to be bullish about itself is not just the five titles won across men and women, but the depth of talent outside these squads, with Varun Chakravarthy eloquently saying, “There’s more talent in one Indian state than in entire nations outside.” Recalling his origins, Sanju Samson would add nuance to the reach cricket has garnered, due to its franchise leagues in regions where the sport hadn’t made headway. “For a young boy from Kerala, playing Ranji Trophy, which got over in one or two days, and not knowing what to do after U-19, Rahul Sir invited me to (work with) Zubin Bharucha, where I upscaled my game. Learnt a lot, also how to be a good human being,” he would say. Dravid reckoned the results were a culmination of many decades of things coming together. “This is phenomenal growth, Indian cricket’s always had amazing talent, good administrators, good coaches, but now we are backing that with infrastructure, plus a fantastic junior and domestic system, and incredible fans. All of this has come together on the field, helping us win 5 of 8 trophies on offer. Off the field we always had everything we needed, on field things are coming together,” he said. ‘Nice to see Sanju’s success’ He had praise for the T20 winners from Ahmedabad. “Lovely to see the performance of the T20 side….it’s not always easy to start as favourites, and end with the trophy. It comes with its own pressures, nice to see Sanju get it together in three games,” Dravid added. “He’d been in and out of the team, he’s worked real hard, personally seen him work hard, it’s nice he found success at critical phase of Indian cricket.” Also Read | BCCI Awards | The great Indian flex: Trophies and talents Coaches had been crucial to this new surge of success in Indian cricket. Nooshen Ali Khader for U19 girls, Amol Muzumdar for seniors, Hrishikesh Kanitkar for junior men, and Gautam Gambhir for the rest. Those roles were played by Keki Tarapore and Roger Binny for Dravid, he recalled, as he collected his award.Story continues below this ad Dravid, in his inimitable fashion, would also thank those “not in this room”, in BCCI power centres, who had contributed to Indian cricket. Unnamed scorers, administrators, umpires, first coaches, volunteers organising tournaments, and those who drove them from one ground to the next. “It’s all their sacrifices, contributions,” he added. He had appreciative words for family too. “My father. Whose love for cricket was not just about Rahul Dravid’s career, but a genuine love for the game.” “Vijeta – whom I needed to use brownie points to get you here. They say marriage is an equal partnership, it hasn’t been for us. You made sacrifices to get me here, raise the children. My two boys, for whom I haven’t always been there,” he would say.

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