Sipu Jha
There is a classic scene in Gangs of Wasseypur where Sardar Khan (played by Manoj Bajpayee), Nasir Ahmed (played by Piyush Mishra), and Asgar Khan (Played by Jameel Khan) loot a petrol pump owned by coal mafia don Ramadhir Singh (portrayed by Tigmanshu Dhulia). As they scramble to escape, Sardar Khan slips out of his slipper, and Nasir Ahmed darts ahead, jumping into the jeep with a triumphant taunt, “Hum first, hum first.”That scramble feels familiar now. Ever since 41-year-old Paras Dogra led Jammu and Kashmir to their historic Ranji Trophy triumph, the rush to claim a share of the glory has begun. Political leaders, administrators, well-wishers and assorted stakeholders are lining up, each eager to say, “hum first.”
It takes a village to raise a child, they say. The same holds true for this team. The apprehension-tinged affection from former cricketers, the love and encouragement from captain Paras Dogra, the grooming by coach Ajay Sharma, the talent spotting by Irfan Pathan, the professional eye of the selectors, and finally the confidence injected by social media, which allowed cricketers from Jammu and Kashmir to spread their wings, all played a part.After winning the title, Auqib Nabi, who grew up in a curfew-stricken Baramulla and took 60 wickets in the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy season, making it 104 in two seasons, now wants to return home for a much-needed break.But he feels this title has brought him closer to his dream of opening a cricket academy in Baramulla, where he can nurture more Auqibs.“I am one step closer, bhai,” he tells TimesofIndia.com from Hubballi.“I would like to open an academy. There is absolutely nothing here. When I started playing, I had to go to Bengaluru for training and played lower-division matches there. I want to find and train more Auqib Nabis from Baramulla,” he says.The other Nabi
File photo of Abid Nabi (R). (Instagram)
Before Auqib Nabi, who is mesmerising batters with his impeccable length and swing, there was another Nabi, Abid Nabi, the first poster boy of Jammu and Kashmir cricket.The year was 2000 when a 6-feet-2-inches tall bowler with broad shoulders and a smooth action caught Dennis Lillee’s attention at the MRF Pace Foundation. The Australian legend alerted his fellow Aussie Greg Chappell, then the coach of Team India, and soon Nabi was bowling in the India nets.“It feels like redemption for me. It took twenty years,” Abid Nabi tells this website.“Jo khwaab itne saalon pehle dekha woh aaj poora kar diya ladkon ne (the dream that I saw many years ago, it has been fulfilled),” he says, pausing before completing the sentence.Nabi jogs down memory lane but does not want to talk about his time with the Indian cricket team. Instead, he speaks about an Under-19 one-day game when, under his captaincy, Jammu and Kashmir defeated Haryana.“It was the first major win against a top side by any J&K team. If I am not wrong, it was 2003-04. It took us more than two decades, but J&K has finally arrived. The infrastructure is still the same. The boys play on turf wickets. You cannot have cricket in the valley after October because of the weather. Most of them did not have spikes when they first came into the state side. It is a remarkable achievement. Please forgive me, I am short of words,” Nabi says, his voice choking.
I was dropped because I was not doing dua and salaam to the selectors and coach. There was no professionalism. The less I say, the better
Abid Nabi
Nabi’s career was derailed after he joined the now defunct Indian Cricket League.“I was dropped from the J&K side because I was not doing dua and salaam to the selectors and coach. There was no professionalism. The less I say, the better,” he says.Meanwhile, twenty years later, another Nabi almost single-handedly took J&K to the title. He could have done the same the previous season as well. In the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy, he picked up 44 wickets in eight matches, the second-most in the season. His performance helped Jammu and Kashmir qualify for the quarter-finals, where Kerala edged them out by a one-run first-innings lead.“That one-run loss against Kerala gave me sleepless nights,” Auqib Nabi had said after he was picked by the Delhi Capitals for Rs 8.40 crore in the IPL auction.Those who sowed the seeds
Budding cricketers from Jammu & Kashmir during a practice session. (Photo by special arrangement)
After the end of Day 4 of the final, sports journalist Abid Hussain Khan, who has covered J&K cricket tirelessly for the last two decades, sent an emotional text to this reporter.“Wish I was there. In 20 years of sporting journalism, I always dreamt of such a moment and when it is finally happening, I was not there to witness it. In fact, I may not be invited when they finally arrive back home,” read Abid’s message.He credits the current Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association regime, a three-member panel put in place by the BCCI.“The BCCI sub-committee under Brigadier Anil Gupta and Mithun Manhas, with whom I do not share a good relationship, deserves credit. Manhas is a tough taskmaster who did not budge even in the harshest criticism. He ended the star culture and once even punished two IPL cricketers who were turning up late for practice,” he says.For years, Jammu and Kashmir had only a token presence in the Ranji Trophy. No international match has been played in the state since 1986. Rain forced the abandonment of the fifth ODI of the India-New Zealand series in Jammu in 1988.Parvez Rasool, the first international cricketer from the state, credited former India captain Bishan Singh Bedi, who was appointed coach and mentor in 2011, for changing the mindset.
Former Indian cricketer Parvez Rasool (ANI Photo)
“He changed our mindset. Earlier, whenever J&K played, the thinking was that we were only going to participate. But Bedi sir taught us that you go and compete. He taught us that we have to fight, not just participate. He brought the spark in me and in Jammu and Kashmir cricket,” he had told TimesofIndia.com in November last year.Abid Hussain Khan echoes Rasool and says the mindset shifted first under Bedi and later when Irfan Pathan joined the Jammu and Kashmir side as player-cum-mentor.“During his stint, he held a lot of camps. All the boys you see now, even those playing in the IPL, were hand-picked by Irfan,” says Abid.Auqib Nabi, the Kohinoor of Jammu and Kashmir cricket, was first spotted by Pathan during a trial in 2018-19.
(From right to left) Mohammad Tahir, Auqib Nabi, and Haziq. (Photo by special arrangement)
“He gave me a lot of useful tips related to bowling. He was the first one who told me to work on my wrist and not change anything,” Nabi had said.Before leaving, Irfan even wrote a mail to the JKCA asking the association to invest in Nabi.Many youngsters and senior J&K cricketers feel he changed the team’s mindset. J&K reached the quarter-finals of the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy season.“He instilled the belief that yes, we can also win. We can beat the top domestic sides. Our players can play in the IPL and for India,” says Abid Mushtaq, the left-arm spinner of the victorious Jammu and Kashmir team.A sweet redemption
Jammu and Kashmir’s Yudhvir Singh, Auqib Nabi and others celebrate after winning the Ranji Trophy 2025-26 final. (PTI)
On a working Saturday, Samiullah Beigh took a day off and was on his way to the JKCA office with teammates Parvez Rasool, Mohammed Mudhasir, Ram Dayal and others to celebrate what is a monumental day for Jammu and Kashmir cricket.“Massive achievement. Considering the fact that infrastructure was missing here and is still not up to the mark, the journey of this team, this bunch of cricketers, is nothing short of a fairy tale,” a proud Beigh tells TimesofIndia.com.“If you see my interviews, I have been telling everybody that this team has the calibre to win the Ranji Trophy. Many laughed, journalists laughed, cricketers laughed. But finally I have been proved right. We always had the talent. The only thing lacking was self-belief,” he says.Beigh was a pivotal member of the team that reached the quarter-finals of the 2013-14 Ranji Trophy, where a poor on-field decision cost them the match against Punjab.
People celebrate at the JKCA office after Jammu and Kashmir team’s first-ever Ranji Trophy win, in Jammu on Saturday. (ANI)
“Unfortunately, umpiring ruined our journey in 2013-14. In the quarter-final against Punjab in 2013, we had them reeling at 147 for 7. Harbhajan Singh edged one. Everyone heard it except the umpires. He went on to score 92 and the momentum shifted,” he says.“And when this year we qualified for the quarter-finals and I learned that every match would be live, I told my friends we are going to win. They asked how I was so sure. I said there will be DRS. In crunch moments, bigger players do put pressure on umpires for tricky decisions. Sometimes umpires succumb. But when there is DRS to correct things, everything changes. You saw it with the KL Rahul dismissal in this final. He was given not out and later the decision was overturned by the third umpire,” he adds.And so, unlike that scene in Gangs of Wasseypur, this story does not belong to the man who shouts “hum first.” It belongs to the many who ran together, stumbled together and stayed the course. Jammu and Kashmir’s Ranji Trophy triumph is not about who reached the jeep first. It is about a village that finally achieved its long-hailed goal.
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