The veteran and one of the decorated pacer of Jammu and Kashmir Samiullah Beigh has announced his retirement from the shorter formats of the game.
“I had it in mind before the beginning of the season that I would hang my boots with the aim to pave way for youngsters who are waiting in wings. But as soon as the news leaked, my friends and fans prevailed upon me and now I have decided to retire from One-Day and T20 formats which are scheduled next month,” Samiullah Beigh. However the veteran pacer clarified that he will take call on the longer formats at the start of next season.
“For longer format, I would take call before the start of next season based on my fitness and form,” he said.
About the reasons for hanging boots and announcing it before the start of the selection for shorter format begins , he said, “Alhamdulillah in terms of fitness I am still amongst the fittest few in the State team and in terms of skill you know the graph of my performances in last few years has been going up. In my last 26 Ranji matches I took 75 wickets and scored around 1000 odd runs. But yes, you are always under pressure to perform, more so when you have crossed 30, people are always on lookout for a reason to drop you than select you. But that is true for every sports and sportsman. No hard feelings,” he said.
About looking back at his career then pointing out high and low points, he said, “I am more satisfied than anyone could be. Regret off course is there that (as many believed) I had the talent to be successful at international level but somehow couldn’t reach there. I was very much elated when in 2010-11, I was selected for Deodhar trophy after continuously performing well for last few years, national selectors came to see me specifically, in that match which Virat Kohli was leading ( Northzone vs Eastzone). I bowled first over of the match but pulled my lower back in second over itself. So bad was the injury that I could manage only 3 overs in the match and we lost the match as well”.
“Low would be when we boycotted against Bishen Singh Bedi in 2012 when I was the captain of the team. Although I personally was never in favor of a mass boycott but when team took the decision I being the leader owned it. That gave a lot of bad name to the state cricket team. Although I still believe we as players were rightfully protesting but definitely we should have chosen a better option than mass boycott,” he said.
He lamented the present state of J&K cricket team which after highs of 2013-14 has declined.
“From 2013-14 we had converted the J&K Ranji team from minnows into a brute force by defeating major teams like Mumbai, Delhi, Haryana, Kerala, Baroda among others. This dream run of senior team percolated into juniors as well and they also started doing well. But unfortunately, few personal interests destroyed the core of the team. That meant we went back to square one. And at present we have reached to pre-2013 era again where we are being rolled over in every age group,” he said.
Without going into specifics he termed the troubled J&K Cricket Association (JKCA) as the major reason for down fall of the J&K cricket.
“I won’t go into specifics but I would be very clear that unless JKCA is not set in order, cricket teams won’t perform in the field. I hope the newly appointed CEO and administrators are able to clean up the mess by holding fresh and fair elections within a month or two. I am sorry to say that present dispensation is simply revolving around big name players from Kashmir as well as Jammu. We are wasting money on coaches and irrelevant support staff,” he said.
About his future plans, he said, “I am a cricketer and I would love to be associated with it forever. But I am not the one to visit JKCA or sports council offices everyday for assignments. I am ready to contribute in whatever manner. Besides I have already been made incharge of PHE departmental cricket team by Chief Engineer PHE, which is a huge honor”.
