Kolkata, February 28 This story dates back to the 1990s, when the Ranji Trophy was played in a zonal format until the knockout rounds. Every top player knew exactly who would be their target in the "annual run fest."
For Bengal, it was Tripura in the East Zone. Down south, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka would dominate Goa.
Up north, Delhi legends would target Jammu and Kashmir to boost their seasonal statistics.
A former Delhi captain, who also played for India in Tests and ODIs, narrates this funny anecdote.
"It was my first season in first-class cricket, and we had decided to bat against J&K. Normally, batsmen up to No. 5 would start the day. I remember that our No. 5, a domestic run machine, was getting his pads on. Our equally prominent No. 3 asked him a pertinent question," recalled the former captain.
"Why are you getting your pads on, Bhai?" the No. 3 jested.
The No. 5 replied: "Because it's J&K, why bother with pads?"
The No. 3 retorted: "If it's J&K, why not even wear pads?"
The No. 3's response was that his turn might not even come, given that J&K was the opposition.
On Saturday, Jammu and Kashmir's maiden Ranji Trophy victory demonstrated how far the team had come, overcoming all odds.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Delhi was one of the top domestic teams, with six to seven Indian stars returning for the Ranji Trophy to score double centuries and improve their averages.
If Raman Lamba and current J&K coach Ajay Sharma were batting, there was little chance that Kirti Azad, KP Bhaskar, or Bantoo Singh would get a chance to bat.
Another Indian player from Delhi recalled the time when simply the presence of legendary Mohinder Amarnath would be enough for J&K to be intimidated.
"For them, Jimmy Pa was from another planet. The J&K players of that generation were awestruck. They wondered how he could bowl so well, and they didn't believe he was actually facing them," he laughed.
Those days are gone when Delhi was the "Dada" of domestic cricket. On Saturday, the days of J&K being the underdogs seem to be over too.
In fact, things started to improve in the early 2000s, despite the fact that the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association was not performing well.
It was the Delhi connection that eventually turned things around.
Bishan Singh Bedi's entry as a coach was the first sign of change.
"Bedi Sir would tell us, 'You are not here to make up numbers. You are here to compete. Don't get involved in association politics, and be the best version of yourself'," fondly recalled Parvez Rasool, the first Indian cricketer from the valley.
Bedi also worked to resolve the conflict between Jammu and Kashmir in team selections.
"He made us believe that we needed to perform well in Ranji and aim for bigger prizes. I felt I could play for India. He brought cricketing smarts and a very Delhi-like toughness to our game," Rasool said.
After Bedi, Sanjeev Sharma, another former India seamer and a Delhi product, also contributed to J&K's success as their coach.
But it required Mithun Manhas, empowered by the BCCI, to turn J&K into a champion team.
Manhas, a Kashmiri Pandit from Jammu, had moved to Delhi during his teenage years and went on to become one of their best batsmen.
However, towards the end of his career, Manhas returned home and retired from first-class cricket from J&K.
He returned as an administrator for J&K, and his calm demeanor and experience navigating the controversial state unit DDCA had made him a battle-hardened veteran.
Once the corruption-ridden JKCA was taken over by the BCCI, the then-Board secretary Jay Shah put Manhas in charge as an administrator.
Not everyone liked Manhas' entry, as he was more a product of South Delhi than Jammu, but Manhas weeded out the disturbing elements. It helped that BCCI and Shah backed him fully with the directive: "Utilize the full potential of J&K players."
From organizing age-group camps to creating a pool of pacers, and even beating Delhi to become the first north zone state to have both black and red soil tracks, Manhas executed his brief.
But his best decision was to get Ajay Sharma on board as J&K head coach, giving him a second chance after his image and reputation were tarnished in the match-fixing scandal.
Sharma was one cricketer who would intimidate the opposition states whenever he came out to bat wearing that white helmet.
"I always knew that Ajay Bhai is the right man for the job. It wasn't difficult to convince him, as my vision was to see J&K win the Ranji Trophy," Manhas had told
If Bedi brought Delhi's competitive spirit, Manhas and Sharma instilled the Delhi ruthlessness in the team.
If J&K batted out Karnataka for nearly two and a half days, it came out of Sharma's Delhi playbook of batting forever and outclassing the opposition.
As Paras Dogra lifts the trophy (incidentally another Delhi boy who played for HP), the Capital imprint will be firmly there.
Delhi is no longer the Delhi it once was.
It has passed on the baton to J&K.
