Bringing the Kashmiri youth into the national mainstream through cricket

Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) cricketer Mohammed Mudhasir's recent rare feat in the Ranji Trophy, in having four batsmen LBW in four continuous balls he bowled has once again raised eyebrows on the latent cricket talent ingrained in the youth of the state. It reminds of an experience difficult to forget.

By 2010, proxy conflict conditions in the Kashmir Valley had robbed the people of their one major passion, competitive cricket. Those so far unaware of the Valley's love for the game need to also know that two more things add to that obsession; first, the abundant availability of willow and, therefore, the presence of an industry for cricket bats, although now largely in decay; second the nature of the soil which helps fast bowlers enhance their skills on bouncy wickets. Many say that the pitches of the Valley are very akin to English ones probably due the similar weather conditions.

The year 2011 began with cricket galore as the World Cup tournament on the one day format glued cricket fans to the television screen. Then, there was IPL 4 with all the fun of watching through the evenings in the Kashmiri spring landscape.

It would also offer a chance to young Kashmiri players to showcase their skills sufficiently in order to make at least one of them an aspirant to wear the Indian cap.

The very next morning, once it was confirmed that Kashmir had no parallel tournament to the type we were contemplating, a decision was taken to organise and run such a tournament; it was called Kashmir Premier League (KPL).

Initial inquiries revealed that Ganderbal district alone had 80 enthusiastic teams wishing to participate. Kashmir has ten districts, the simple arithmetic of allowing participation of all teams would be mind-boggling. So a preliminary tournament to select 14 teams was first organised at district level, two teams from the larger districts and one each from the smaller ones were to participate in the second and main phase.

Names of teams such as Srinagar Sherdils, Anantnag Arsenal, Baramula Tigers added a sense of romance and expectation as the tournament progressed. We took assistance of the J&K Cricket Association for pitch preparation and umpires, even while our Air Defence Brigade took on the responsibility of management; it involved the acquiring of sports equipment, team clothing, catering to the draw, providing motivating refreshments for tired and hungry players and meticulously keeping scores and statistics on newly developed software. Once the second round started the gear of all teams was financed by us and each match had a man of the match award.

A total of Rs 1.46 crore was catered and spent but every penny was accounted for and no match was played without ensuring the fullest esteem requirements of the players. Hoardings all over the Valley and the involvement of Doordarshan ensured a healthy turnout of spectators and much cheering. A trophy costing a lakh of rupees ensured that it was worth playing the tournament.

The inauguration had the presence of then Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and the final was graced by Dr Farooq Abdullah. Through almost three months, 390 matches were played and the cricket spirit continued till mid-year 2011. Some exceptional talent emerged assisting the JKCA to scout for new faces but very importantly cricket in Kashmir got a shot in the arm with a premium tournament of its own.

The results of the tournament were seen in more than one domain. Mudar Paterya, the veteran Kolkata journalist and philanthropist, gave impetus to the notion which had been spread about the event. It was always said that KPL was not just a tournament. It was a movement to restore Kashmir’s lost pride, sense of hurt and self-esteem.

Paterya’s request to bring a team of middle-aged Kolkata- based cricketers to Kashmir to play the finest teams was grabbed. The Kolkata Rotary Club sponsored the visit and the Army in Kashmir, out to get an image different to the commonly perceived one, acted as the hosts and organisers.

Cricket was fast becoming a greater binder of people and there was an opportunity to neutralize much of the negativism of the past. Paterya’s team lost all the matches but set up some great interaction amidst fine hospitality by the Kashmiris. That led to an invitation from Kolkata Rotary on their return, to send three teams to Kolkata, Jamshedpur and Chennai to play local teams there.

The Kolkata visit was the flagship, as the young and ambitious cricketers got a chance to play at Eden Garden, meet Saurav Ganguly and share the dressing-room with Manoj Tewari. The novel thing was that the team was split into pairs and accommodated at different Bengali homes that spared no effort to prove that they were as good hosts, if not better than the Kashmiris.

On return to Srinagar, a small function was organised to welcome the teams and allow them to share their experiences. Every single member was simply thrilled with what he had gone through, adding to the positive vibes of KPL which had started it all.

KPL was organised successfully and played again in 2012. However, in 2013, bureaucratic hurdles and short-sighted auditors could not fathom why Rs 1.5 crore was being spent on this tournament. It had been taken from the 'hearts & minds' budget of the Army and succeeded to such an extent that its success could not really be gauged.

KPL died a natural death in 2013, with the Army itself unable to understand what and why of the movement. Such positives are the victims of tenures and turnovers of personnel and the refusal to pick up the phone to speak to predecessors to understand the value of past initiatives.

That is why I have always believed that in the field of leadership you have to have the courage to understand your predecessor’s motives and actions and the will and ability to implement fresh ideas without weeding out the old.

KPL achieved the inevitable; it gave a fillip to cricket in Kashmir which hopefully in years to come will see many young people wear the Indian cap.

(The author is an Indian Army veteran and an author)