When manager became top scorer

Srinagar, May 4: In the dusty grounds of Sopore, long before cricket became a televised obsession, a lanky teenager picked up the red cherry and began shaping dreams with it.

“My name is Nisar Ahmad Khanday,” he says, recalling the first time he bowled with serious intent. “I didn’t play much in school. But by Class 9, I was already breaking records.”

Khanday wasn’t just a fast bowler, he was a cricketer who defied odds and norms. In 1978–79, he went to Jammu for the Under-19 trials—his first brush with professional cricket. He was selected instantly, one of only 18 boys from Jammu & Kashmir. “There weren’t many of us. But I was among them,” he says proudly.

Inspired by Geff Lawson, Khanday said his pace and natural swing drew comparisons with Ian Botham and Imran Khan. “I had my own style,” he adds modestly. “And I was lucky to have Tej Kishan as coach. He told me, ‘You’re tall, make use of that.’ That advice changed my game.”

Cricket wasn’t just a sport for Khanday. It was an obsession, a way of life. “When people went for picnics and excursions, I went to cricket grounds,” he says. “The Sher-i-Kashmir Stadium in Srinagar was like a second home.” While others explored mountains and meadows, Khanday chased cricketing dreams across dusty pitches and grassy outfields.

In 1984, he broke another barrier, becoming the first from north Kashmir to play in the Ranji Trophy. “We didn’t win much, but I remember taking nine wickets in a single match,” he recalls. That match was against Himachal Pradesh. “I lived for those moments,” he adds.

In fact, across his short first-class career, he played 13 matches, picking up 35 wickets at an average of 31.88, with best bowling figures of 5 for 64. He bowled 1,597 deliveries, and his strike rate of 45.6 stood out in a time when J&K cricket lacked basic infrastructure.

With the bat, he wasn’t known for heroics—scoring 113 runs in 22 innings with a highest score of 27—but his all-round presence in the field was undeniable. He also played a single List A match, scoring 27 runs, which turned out to be prophetic years later.

But the road in J&K cricket was never smooth.

“They dropped me at 22. I had just started. Others got 10-year careers—I got three,” he says, pausing. Ask him why, and he doesn’t hesitate.

“Selectors didn’t favour villagers. Performance was not the only thing that mattered.”

Despite stellar numbers, Khanday faced recurring rejection. “Ask anyone—Idris, Asif, Zahoor Ahmad—they’ll tell you the same story. We were good. But we were from the wrong postcode.”

He points to a broader pattern, “Even now, look at Abid Nabi. But J&K have this routine, they don’t let their own people go ahead.”

For the next decade, he became a local cricketing institution. His team, Bradman, toured across Kashmir. “Wherever you go, mention my name, they will say, haan, yeh yahaan bhi khela hai.”

Khanday also remains the only player from Sopore to have scored a staggering 188 in an inter-college match, a record that still stands.

The Return: 1999

So you had a professional cricket career of just three years?

“Yes”, he says, “and then in 1989, I played a couple of matches again. Then in 1999, I went as a manager with the team. That time, we had only 10 boys. There was a provision that the manager could also play. So I played a match in 1999.”

He chuckles before adding, “I was a manager, but my body was getting weaker. Still, in the match, I ended up making the most runs—30. That was the highest in our team.”

Even in the twilight of his playing days, far past his prime and there merely to manage logistics, Nisar Ahmad Khanday showed he still had cricket in his veins. That 30 wasn’t just a number—it was a reminder of the spark that had never truly gone out.

Khanday’s story is a reminder that raw talent doesn’t always find fair pathways. But for every ball he swung past a batsman, for every wicket he took when J&K cricket barely had infrastructure—he left a mark. In dusty scorebooks, yes. But more so, in memory.