The English people started playing cricket in 19th century and since then it has spread in many countries. Presently it has become the favorite game of millions of people around the world. From the era of test matches to the present day scenario of slam-bang T-20 matches, the game has come a long way. The emergence of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has really changed the appearance of game. Lot of money, craze, courage, fear, advertisers, boards, etc. have been associated with this game. In India, the children, old and young people watch and play cricket more than any other game. Now the question is: Why the people like this game more than any other game? One of the reasons is that this game is easier to understand than most other games. It creates a lot of interest among the people. This game is very simple and does not require a lot of rules and tactics to follow. The craze for cricket got intensified after India’s emphatic victory in the 1983 world cup. Every Indian recalls this moment with pride. Thinking of a few things India is associated within the world, cricket would be one such thing. Often dubbed as a religion, cricket unites people from every community across all caste and creed. It is more than a game,an emotion, a passion and a devotion for many in India. The same vein flows in Kashmir. The craze of cricket in Kashmir is at a fever pitch as we can see boys playing from front porches to stadium grounds. This is because of our local budding talent, such as Shabir lefty, Irfan ul Haq, Bilal Pandya, Aadil Kachur, Jehangir lone, Ishtiyaq rasool, Owais Baba, Khalid Bhat, Shahrukh Dar, Basit Akbar Dar, Zakir Wani, Sheikh Junaid, Aqib Nabi, Nasir lone, Basit Bashir, John Mir, Zahoor peter, Zargar Iqbal, Mudasir pinto etc. Cricket is being followed very minutely in this part of the world. Basically this part has a rich history in the field of cricket. Many cricketers have made it to the top level from this region and a huge number of cricketer’s are toiling hard to get into the ranks but that is becoming hard day after day. Even when the world and the others parts of the country are becoming richer in this arena with the passage of time, this part is still lagging behind due to a number of voids and lacunae. Days are gone when J&k cricket team was counted among the minnows and placed in the remotest of the pools .The team has found a place among the top pools and it almost reached the semi-finals of the Ranji trophy as well in one of the seasons. The bench strength is also becoming richer day by day not only due to professional cricket but due to local cricket too. This all started when the great Irfan Pathan was appointed as the mentor of cricket team and working with Parveez Rasool, was instrumental in exposing the hidden talent of the region. They worked with zeal and zest to mould the talent into some quality players who dominated the proceedings from the outset once they were exposed to higher level, but it is not efficient enough to compete at the national level. This might be due to lack of infrastructure and other relative amenities. The root cause of cricket development which is taking place in the region is tireless effort of the local organizers who have promoted cricket without any doubt. Be it the Ramhall champions league(Organizer Faheem Iqbal), Wular Premier League which has changed the face of cricket here in Kashmir valley or the other tournaments including Hokersar T_20 , Rehman T_ 20 ,Bijbehara premier league or Mattan premier league,Kehmil cup kupwara (organizers Bhat Ashraf & Sheikh Junaid), Kulangam, Pandithpora Premier League. The top leagues outside the valley organized by Mr Gulzar Ahmad(Public secretary of Tarzoo cricket association) include the recently concluded Kashmir cricket League at Jaipur and the champions cricket league at Gharota Jammu.
The North premier league organized by Mr Zubair Dar helps players to showcase their talent. Let me include some cricket mentors of our valley like, Nisar Ah khanday, Mohd Shafi, Mohd Yousuf Gabroo, Bhat Musa and Bhat Ashraf. Bhat Ashraf and Bhat Musa had played crucial role in uplifting the cricket of Kupwara. Here we should not forget the role played by the broadcasters and the broadcasting channels that have been a medium between the fans ,viewers and the players. The top of the pile being Jksportstime, Cricket Ramhall kashmir, Kashmir sports watch, sports hub, Libaa sports. They had made cricket to reach door to door by its exclusive, crystal clear broadcast. They are instrumental in shaping up the J&K cricket by bringing the natural talent to the fore using social media as a platform. People across the globe also watch the broadcast and the local talent is raised sky high by such efforts. The gap between audience and players has been lowered and people watch their local heroes performing live at home. With this live broadcasting the quality of cricket has changed. It is mandatory to mention here the famous, Khan international sports (Owner Firdous Ahmad Khan), who firstly in valley came with the concept of sponsoring players from valley. Right now they are sponsoring more than 80 players. The appearance of players like Parveez Rasool, Rasikh Salam, Umran Malik, Mujtaba Yousuf, Mithun Manhas, Abdul Samad, Manzoor Pandow and many cricketers from J&K has driven a hope and enthusiasm among the cricket lovers in the valley. Cricket is getting better day by day but J&K cricket needs a lot of toil to be at par with that of the other parts of the country and the rest of the world. Lack of turf wickets is the main issue which must be taken into consideration, because this is only cause why our local talent fails to express them outside the UT. There should be proper cricket academies, turf wickets and more importantly JKCA has to take some steps regarding knockout tournaments. Knockout tournaments charge high amount of match fees due to which talented player lacking financial assistance are unable to expose their talent.
At last I conclude with few lines,
Cricket is an emotion…
It is more than a passion!
The team is a family of eleven…
Where their home is the pavilion!
It consists of -batsman, bowlers, fielders and all-rounders…
it’s the responsibility and the pressure, which they play under!
The result of the game can’t be predicted… And it’s the craze that can’t be depicted!
It is all about the sacrifices and dedication…
Because there’s nothing above your NATION!
(The author a resident of Lolab Kupwara and is presently pursuing Integrated PG Course in Zoology at Islamia College of Science & Commerce, Srinagar. Views are his own)
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