“How will this attack perform without Auqib Nabi?”
“It’s a big opportunity for the others. We have Sunil Kumar, Umar Nazir and…” He paused. “One more guy. We’ll decide in the morning.”
They only realised on Thursday morning, when Lone was drafted into the Jammu & Kashmir XI as the third seamer. Before he marked his run-up, he marked out a tape to cover Vivrant Sharma’s name.
Vivrant had been in contention as the extra batter until a week earlier. But with fast bowlers Auqib Nabi (national call-up) and Yudhvir Singh (injured) unavailable, the team’s combination changed, and Lone was drafted into the squad at the eleventh hour.
Even then his inclusion seemed unlikely. But when they saw the surface one final time, the team management decided to back Lone ahead of the other seamer, Rohit Sharma, who was making a comeback after more than two years.
It wasn’t like Lone had a wealth of cricket behind him either. Three first-class games two seasons ago had yielded no wickets. So at best this was a gut call, one that was proved right eventually. Lone’s 3 for 59 – his first set of wickets in first-class cricket – helped Jammu & Kashmir make a formidable start to their maiden Irani Cup campaign.
“I’ve been waiting for my opportunity for more than two years now, that first wicket [he dismissed Sudip Kumar Gharami off his second delivery after coming on first change] was extremely special.”
As a teenager wanting to make a mark in J&K, Lone would come from Bandipora, a town some 60km away, on a share taxi or bus, just to be able to bowl the 10-12 balls he’d get at trials. On good days, he’d get three overs. On bad days, perhaps three balls.
Irrespective, the journey had to be made. He eventually made the Under-19s after three years of trying, but the step-up to the senior team and his maiden first-class wicket took nearly a decade.
“When we see that Aquib getting picked of the Indian team on the back of 60 wickets, we’re inspired. If we can do well, our name can come up too.”
On Thursday, Bandipora would’ve celebrated the moment as much as Lone did. After all, he’s only the second first-class cricketer from there after Raja Saleem. Lone led the team off the field, having dismissed two of the top three Ranji run-getters from the previous season – R Smaran and Gharami.
Tireless in his energy, relentless with his accuracy and impeccable with his movement both ways, he kept asking questions. The speed gun suggested he was rarely, if ever, breaching 130kph. On this surface, that hardly mattered.
Outswing to the left-hander is his stock ball, but work with P Krishna Kumar, their former bowling coach, helped him master the in-swing. This helped him challenge both edges. As batters, no one barring Sarfaraz Khan and R Smaran was able to counter this challenge effectively.
His action is somewhat modelled on Irfan Pathan, minus the big jump, and whenever Dogra needed something to happen off the pitch, he turned to him. Even someone as accomplished as Rishabh Pant struggled.
Pant stood two feet outside the crease to counter this seam movement and late swing, and yet kept playing and missing. Sunil managed to keep one of India’s best Test batters quiet, in conditions that were tailor-made to his liking.
Last season was Sunil’s first in senior cricket and he finished with 31 wickets. Amid Nabi’s breakout season, that number may have been easier to overlook. But inside the dressing room, particularly to coach Ajay Sharma, his impact was evident.
“I get as much credit as god has written for me,” he said with modesty after play. “I got what I deserved. It’s not that I didn’t get it. Last season was my first season.”
“If Lone travelled back-and-forth to Srinagar for a few minutes of attention, Sunil grew up in Akhnoor, 35 kilometres from Jammu, playing tennis ball cricket. When he realised there was something called leather-ball cricket in 2017-18, he began training at his town’s lone ground, where volleyball was big”
There is a simplicity to the way both men describe their journeys. Neither came through an obvious fast-bowling pipeline. Neither had the kind of infrastructure that makes fast bowlers.
If Lone travelled back-and-forth to Srinagar for a few minutes of attention, Sunil grew up in Akhnoor, 35 kilometres from Jammu, playing tennis ball cricket. When he realised there was something called leather-ball cricket in 2017-18, he began training at his town’s lone ground, where volleyball was big.
“I bought a net for 3000 rupees and put it alongside the poles and kept doing spot bowling.” It was here he developed a natural wrist position and release that would later be honed.
Lone and Sunil’s journeys conveyed only last season, in their late 20s. The belief that they belonged, even though circumstances seemed to suggest otherwise, kept them going.
That belief is also what Sunil says changed within the J&K group before they eventually won the Ranji Trophy. The breakthrough, in his mind, came in 2024-25, when they beat Mumbai and Baroda, but narrowly lost out on the semi-final by one run.
“Since then, we had the belief that we will dominate the domestic group,” he said. “Luckily, we won the Ranji Trophy the next year.”
Their names may not carry the same weight as Nabi’s yet. But on Thursday, when J&K needed their attack to look beyond its most celebrated swing merchant, they had two men with modest beginnings stand up and deliver vital spells to put them in a superb position.
Shashank Kishore is a senior correspondent at Cricinfo
Leave a Reply