JKCA names two teams for Ranji opener

Gaurav Kanthwal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 30

In an unprecedented development, the two warring factions of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) are likely to field their own separate squads for the Ranji Trophy opener on Thursday. The tussle for power among the two factions of the JKCA has reached such a pass that two separate squads have been named by the two factions for the match against Kerala in Srinagar.

The Ansari-led faction, which controversially gained power in the JKCA on July 20, and the deposed Farooq Abdullah-led faction declared two different state squads within a few hours on Tuesday. The Abdullah-led faction has announced the squad for the first two matches, while the other group has announced a squad for the first three matches.

Interestingly, the two squads have eight players in common but the two sides have different captains. The Ansari-backed squad has Delhi-based professional Mithun Manhas as captain, while the Abdullah faction has named Parvez Rasool as captain. Rasool is designated as the vice-captain in the Ansari-backed squad.

It’s likely that the eight players who are in both the lists will get to play, which raises two big questions: Which three other players will make the playing XI? And which faction of the JKCA will blink first and concede ground on the composition of the playing XI? In the JKCA circles, a debate is raging over which players would get to play.

JKCA secretary Iqbal Shah (Ansari faction) said, “We have declared our squad. I do not want to comment on what the Abdullah-backed faction has said or done.”

The players who are uncertain of making the playing XI are confused and do not know what the future holds for them. A player, whose name figures in both the squads, said, “We are not concerned which faction is in command. We want to play for Jammu and Kashmir in the Ranji Trophy, that’s all.”

Sources said that to keep both the factions in good humour, a majority of the players had attended the conditioning camps and selection trials of both the factions at different times. Even as factional fighting raged on in the JKCA, the Jammu-based players (10 in number) had struck a pact among themselves to stick together and wade through this controversy jointly, said a player who did not wish to be named. It has also been learnt that the divide between the Jammu and Srinagar players has deepened further in this controversy.

A few days ago, the BCCI had allowed the Ansari-backed women’s team to take to the field in the Under-19 zonal league limited-overs competition in Una, Himachal Pradesh. Meanwhile, the Under-19 team backed by the Ansari faction has left for Patiala to participate in a limited-overs tournament.

Two J&K squads

Ansari faction (17 members): Mithun Manhas (captain), Parvez Rasool (vice-captain), Adil Reshi, Mudasir Gojri, Samad Bhat (wicketkeeper), Amir Sofi, Waseem Raza, Zahoor Sofi, Umar Nazir, Ram Dayal, Ian Dev Singh, Paras Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Shubham Khajuria, Bandeep Singh, Deepak Singh Manhas

Abdullah faction (16 member): Parvez Rasool (captain), Ramdayal Punia (vice-captain), Adil Reshi, Ian Dev Singh, Abid Nabi, Shubham Khajuria, Umar Nazir, Manik Gupta, Obaid Haroon, Raman Dutta, Sajad Sofi, Manish Dogra, Amir Aziz, Bandeep Singh, Mohd Mudasir and Paras Sharma.