Srinagar: J&K senior cricket team is all set to start its campaign in a four-day format Ranji trophy tournament at SSN College Ground, Chennai on Thursday.
In its opening match, J&K would take on Pondicherry. J&K reached Chennai soon after the tournament fixtures were announced and opted to have more training sessions in the City ahead of the event.
The team also had training sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday after having completed the quarantine period.
The new-look team would be playing under veteran Ian Dev Singh who was appointed as captain in place of Shubham Pundir who was captain of the side in the recently held T20 and One Day format events.
J&K has been placed in the Elite group that also includes Karnataka, Railways, and Pondicherry. Each side would be playing three matches in phase one of the tournament.
In the previous Ranji trophy event held before the Covid-19 outbreak, J&K had managed to qualify for the quarterfinals. They would like to keep that reputation intact by giving out a dominant performance against Pondicherry before taking on heavyweights Karnataka in the next match. Pondicherry is not considered a top side in domestic cricket circles
J&K has got the likes of Parvez Rasool, Abdul Samad, Umran Malik in its squad. The team also has got a couple of decent all-rounders and pacers who have done well recently. The newly appointed captain Ian Dev has got a decent record in Ranji Trophy and once was the backbone of J&K batting before his form went downhill.
Speaking with India.com, Ian Dev has said that he is trying to create an environment in the team where everyone wants to win.
“I just want to go step by step, one game at a time. I am coming back after a gap of one and a half years and couldn’t play cricket because of some circumstances.
My role is to lead the team at the moment and I would like to get the best out of everyone. I am trying to motivate them and create an environment where everyone wants to win for the team and in that span, if I can contribute to help the team to win, it would be helpful for the team as well,” he was quoted as saying.