J&K Cricket Association looking to use TV ad tickers to reach out to players

Ever since the repealment of Article 370 by the Government of India, communication lines in the state of Jammu & Kashmir have been shut down. As per a report in the Indian Express, Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association CEO S A H Bukhari has said that TV ads may be the only option available for them to communicate with their players.

“There are two TV channels working in J&K at the moment… Gulistan and ETV. We thought of giving advertisements in newspapers but the problem is we don’t know whether they would reach people across Kashmir. So we thought TV advertisements would be the best medium to inform our players,” Bukhari was quoted saying by Hindustan Times.

Irfan Pathan, who is the mentor-cum-coach of Jammu and Kashmir, said the association will offer ample time for the players to join the pre-season camp, scheduled to begin on Friday.

“There are many players from whom the association hasn’t heard since the last three weeks… The last time I spoke to Parvez (Rasool) was last week when he had come to Jammu. He had called me and said he had come for training in Jammu but then he left for Kashmir as there was no cricket activity. We haven’t reached him since. We thought about sending people to their places but later decided it was not feasible. So TV was the best medium for us,” Pathan said.

The former India all-rounder gave assurances that the JKCA will take care of players lodging and other requirements when they assemble.

“Let the players come first. We have no clarity on who will turn up after watching our advertisement on television. I’m hoping everyone joins. We might approach corporates or the BCCI to help the state have a selection trial game, maybe in some other state so that the boys can prepare for the domestic season starting next month,” Pathan added.