After suffering two big innings defeats at the hands of Saurashtra and Gujarat in the Ranji Trophy tournament, J&K have slipped to sixth place in the points table of Group-B that have seven teams.
J&K after having played three matches are sitting at sixth place with three points while as last placed team Haryana after playing two matches are yet to open their account.
Saurashtra after playing two matches have got 14 points and is at the top followed by Gujarat with 13 points.
The J&K had bagged 3 points in its opening match against Rajasthan in on the basis of first inning lead. The decent outing against Rajasthan was followed by thrashing at the hands of Saurashtra and Gujarat. In both the matches J&K’s batting and bowling failed miserably, suffering inning defeats.
Saurashtra first defeated J&K by innings and 212 runs in Rajkot and that was followed by another inning and 64 run defeat at the hands of defending champions Gujarat in Surat.
Though both teams are considered far too superior to J&K in domestic circuit but it is the manner of defeat that is being questioned. On social media J&K Ranji team and its players are being criticized by fans and cricket followers. Even the place of players in the team is being questioned.
“Defeat doesn’t hurt, it is the manner of defeat and margin that is hurting us,” wrote one fan Sahil Mushtaq on his facebook page.
“Our players are still in T20 mode and don’t know how to play four day matches. They look in hurry to go back to pavilion while as in bowling they get tired too early,” wrote another fan Saqib on his facebook page.
However one of the top cricketers of State wishing anonymity blamed J&K Cricket Association (JKCA) as team was not given time for preparation. “Lack of preparations and planning from JKCA is the main reason for our miserable outing against quality opposition. JKCA announced Ranji team one day before and team reached Jaipur during midnight and next morning straight away went into match. This is not the way how state teams are prepared,” he said.
“When your start is bad and without planning then everything goes astray. JKCA is wasting money on coaches,” he alleged.