On Friday, the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) appointed former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan as the coach-cum-mentor of J&K’s senior stateside for the 2018-19 season. Talking about the same, JKCA CEO, Aashiq Bukhari said, “He will be the coach-cum-mentor of our team for a period of one year.”

Pathan had a prolonged international career which included 29 Tests, 120 ODIs and 24 T20Is for India from a period of 2003 to 2012. He was captain of Baroda for the past two domestic seasons. However, some reports suggested that Irfan, who played for Baroda in Ranji circuit, will next year play for J&K as mentor cum player.

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Apart from that, Irfan will also be holding coaching clinics in various parts of J&K in order to provide better cricketing facilities in the state. On his arrival, Pathan interacted with the young cricketers at the Sher-e-Kashmir Cricket Stadium and told them to work hard on their game in order to reach the next level.

As quoted in Great Kashmir, taking to youngsters, Pathan said, “I am here for you and I will go into every district of the State to unearth the hidden talent. My job here is to help develop J&K cricket as mentor cum player. You should always remember one thing and it is the most important suggestion from me to you. Always play with winning attitude and try to help your team win in whatever capacity you can. It is not only about big hundreds and number of wickets, even small help team win.”

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Pathan revealed that he is in J&K for one year term and they have started the planning to develop cricket in State.

Describing his plans, the all-rounder said, “We have already started to work on the plan and soon we will set that in motion. J&K has got the talent and need is to give them the platform and chance to excel. Idea is to work along with senior players of State to make plan successful.”