After trouncing Karnataka on Saturday to lift the Ranji Trophy – Indian cricket’s most prestigious domestic prize – for the 2025-26 season, terrorism-ravaged and psychologically wracked Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) is likely to see itself and the country through different eyes.Equally, the country is likely to see the Union Territory through a lens of admiration and respect, due to it on multiple counts but not previously adopted, simply because India as a nation has given little evidence of comprehending what J&K has gone through since the late 1980s. The former state has been depicted in the media in a monochromatic way to suit the needs of those with authority in Delhi.J&K has endured sustained suffering of an order few regions in the world have and has come through the crucible with shining colours. This fact alone will give countries in the region that are hostile to India and covet J&K pause. They may now need to rework their propaganda, their tactics and their politics.Also read: The Reservation Tug-of-War in J&K Puts Political Parties in a Tight SpotAfter the famous Saturday win, J&K has bragging rights in an arena that has besotted India for decades and has made it a cricketing superpower. In the 1950s, 60s and 70s, the West Indies – a poor but josheela, or enthusiastic, country of many kinds of immigrants – dominated international cricket.C.L.R. James – the Trinidadian historian and social theorist whose 1963 book, Beyond a Boundary, left behind important ideas on how pride in a given field can give a people personality – would have been proud of the people of J&K today. If sporting success can build a collective identity and instill a sense of pride, then the J&K win in Hubbali can build confidence and restore dignity to a region long defined by conflict and divides.For too long, J&K’s administrative unity has been viewed by some as a liability, shaping its politics in divisive ways, from which this cricketing moment surely shows a way out.J&K team captain Paras Dogra, front centre, Abdul Samad, front left, and others celebrate after winning the Ranji Trophy 2025-26 final cricket match against Karnataka, February 28, 2026. Photo: Shailendra Bhojak/PTI.If comparisons are to be made, then the mettle shown by the cricket team of our neighbouring country Afghanistan on the world stage in the last decade or so, when it was still in the grip of daily bombings and shootings, is something we may look to when we regard the cricket title that J&K has now made its own.Also read: Cricket In Troubled TimesIn India’s domestic cricket, can J&K keep its place of pride and be spoken of in ways that Afghanistan is among the premier cricket-playing nations of the world? The answer is – Yahoo! Of course it can. It has the mettle, the competitive spirit and the needed self-esteem in plenty. What it might also need, though, is a positive policy framework from the Union government.Who knows, the restoration of statehood may restore the self-esteem of a sensitive border region that has known little peace since India was partitioned in 1947 and lead its people on to the path of greater glory in not just cricket but other domains too. There is no shortage of talent and capacity.For J&K, defeating Karnataka is no small matter. This Union Territory and former state, reduced in political status by political actors on account of prejudice and hubris, has been a struggling part of India and had no cricketing status to speak of, no pedigree at all. For nearly four decades, it has mostly dealt with guns and bombs. Its schools, colleges and markets have been shut for prolonged periods. The minds of its people have been short-circuited. They needed love and were given suspicion and disdain.In contrast, Karnataka, a state with a record of across-the-board achievements, has won the Ranji Trophy more times than most other states and is known to shine in the sport. Its Ranji side boasts five Test players, while J&K does not have the shadow of one. The dice was loaded in Karnataka’s favour. The final match of the Ranji season was played at Hubballi in the Dharwad district of the state, not in a neutral setting. And yet, they were handed a thrashing by J&K that they are not likely to forget in a hurry.Well done, heroes! Just don’t rest on your laurels.Anand K. Sahay is a veteran journalist.