J&K want nothing less than Ranji title now

Batter Shubham Khajuria reveals season’s goal for cock-a-hoop Mumbai conquerors; says arriving in the city 10 days before victorious match helped

Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) opener Shubham Khajuria, whose vital Ranji Trophy knocks helped his team beat Mumbai in 2014-15 and last week, stressed that J&K have set their sights on winning the Ranji Trophy this season.    

“I had that confidence when we beat Mumbai in 2014 [the first instance of J&K beating Mumbai] at the Wankhede Stadium. Yes, there was pressure on me during this game, but I told myself that I needed to shoulder responsibility as I am an opening batsman. 

Shubham Khajuria

“Beating Mumbai in Mumbai is big, but our main dream is to win the Ranji Trophy, for which we are waiting for a long time. We have played in the knockouts several times, but our team’s focus is to win the trophy. I think we are very close to it this season. This is the best team to achieve this goal,” Khajuria told mid-day from Baroda on Monday.

Also Read: "Coach Gautam Gambhir and obviously Suryakumar Yadav will take a call": Kotak on Mohammed Shami

Ready for Baroda challenge

After securing a big win on the third day, J&K used the fourth day to celebrate their feat. On Monday, they reached Baroda to prepare for Thursday’s last league game against the hosts.    

Khajuria, 29, who has scored 563 runs in six games this season, was instrumental in his team’s first win against the Suryakumar Yadav-led Mumbai team a decade ago when he scored 107 and 78 at the Wankhede Stadium. On Saturday at the MCA-BKC ground, he emerged as his team’s highest run-getter with knocks of 53 and 45 for J&K to do the incredible against Mumbai yet again.

When asked how confident was he about beating the defending champions, who had six India players, Khajuria said: “The only doubt we had was whether the match would be played on a turner. Our strength is fast bowling and if Mumbai prepared a rank turner, we wouldn’t have been able to play to our strength. But when we saw the wicket, our belief increased manifold because there was something in the wicket for our fast bowlers.”

Perfect planning 

Khajuria also revealed how they chalked out a plan to counter the 42-time defending champions on their home ground. 

“We came to Mumbai 10 days ago to prepare. [Pacer] Umar [Nazir Mir] and I came to the conclusion that if we wanted to beat Mumbai, we need to bowl them out quickly in the first innings. Mumbai are a strong team and can make a comeback at any stage, and we succeeded in getting them all out quickly for 120 in the first innings. It was a big achievement for us to beat Mumbai again for whom the current India captain was playing. This memory will stay with us forever. 
Remaining undefeated against Mumbai will help J&K’s cricket grow,” the former India U-19 batsman remarked. 

Khajuria credited J&K’s pace bowling unit comprising Auqib Nabi, Yudhvir Singh and Mir for fostering a fearless approach. “I think this is our best team in the last 14-15 years and the main reason for it is our fast bowling unit. Yudhvir is very quick. Umar is very experienced, plays with a batsman’s mindset and I think Auqib has been our best bowler in the red-ball format over the last four to five years. 

After facing these fast bowlers in the nets, my job in the match became very easy,” he remarked. 

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!