For the first time in 67 years, the Jammu and Kashmir cricket team will play in the finals of the Ranji Trophy, India’s premier first-class domestic cricket tournament.
On Tuesday, the team will take on Karnataka in the finals to be played in Hubli.
Whatever be the outcome of the match, in a sharply divided union territory, the team’s journey this far carries a symbolism that goes beyond the cricket pitch, observers told Scroll.
The team’s success comes in the backdrop of a series of controversies and calls to split Jammu from Kashmir that, many feel, have deepened the divide between the two regions. “The team’s victory has sent the message of unity,” said Dr Rameshwar Singh, an independent Member of Legislative Assembly from Bani constituency of Jammu’s Kathua district.
The team’s victory on February 8 against Bengal in the Ranji Trophy semi-finals was lauded on the floor of the Jammu and Kashmir legislative Assembly. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, while congratulating the team, said, “No one wins [matches in] the Ranji Trophy on their own.”
A break from ‘Jammu versus Kashmir’
While the team was training for its matches in January, an unseemly controversy erupted in Jammu and Kashmir.
Protests led by a group of nearly 60 organisations allied to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh...
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