After its horrendous Vijay Hazare Trophy 50-over tournament campaign, J&K cricket team is all set to start its Ranji Trophy four-day matches campaign against host Rajasthan at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur on Thursday.
With the aim to prepare well enough, team J&K reached Jaipur on Sunday and had daily training sessions on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Apart from having fielding drills, team also spent time in nets on Wednesday. Team barring Irfan Pathan and Parvez Rasool had reached Jaipur on Sunday. Parvez joined team on Monday while as Pathan on Tuesday.
The 16-member squad of J&K is a mix of youth and experience selected by 5-member selection committee that included three outside State selectors.
When J&K will take on Rajasthan in the first match of Ranji season on Thursday, all cricket followers will be keenly watching the proceedings as they have high hopes with the team in longer format after terrible outing in one-dayers. In this year’s Vijay Hazare Trophy, J&K lost six matches and won only three.
Even in the last season’s Ranji trophy, the team didn’t have a memorable outing, suffering defeat in four matches and winning only one. They had also one draw under their belt that interestingly had come against host of tomorrow’s match Rajasthan.
“The team is focused and eyeing to get winning start to the campaign. They had good training sessions in Jaipur under coach Milap and also trainer Mushtaq. It is all together a different ball game with longer format, offering plenty of chances to bounce back after a bad session or two. We have been doing well in this and hope to do it again,” said J&K team official.
