Jammu and Kashmir may have missed qualifying for the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy, but their performances have been most heartening indeed. India has so many players who are good enough to play for their state teams, but because there is already another player occupying the slot, they can’t get a game. They then move to another state and make a contribution in raising the confidence and competitiveness of those teams. Sandeep Patil and Chandrakant Pandit are two prime examples of players who moved from Mumbai to other states and helped those states to start performing better. Jalaj Saxena is another, who is currently helping Kerala, who are in the semis now.

Even as coaches, Patil and Pandit brought in the winning mentality in the teams they coached and made them competing teams.