Saqib Nabi
Baramulla 18 September 2026: The floodlights come on at the General Bipin Rawat Stadium, and a different Baramulla comes alive.
Girls walk onto the cricket field. Boys compete before packed stands. Families cheer from the galleries. Youngsters wave flags and thousands of spectators gather to watch cricket late into the evening.
For a town long associated with unrest, stone-pelting and militancy, the scenes offer a striking picture of a changing sporting culture.
Baramulla’s transformation was on full display this season with the successful conduct of day-and-night cricket for both women and men, turning the stadium into a major sporting venue and bringing communities together through the game.
At the centre of this new chapter was the Chinar Women’s Premier League (CWPL), an Indian Army initiative that brought together 12 women’s teams from across Kashmir, including a team from Ladakh. In the floodlit final, Anantnag Rebels defeated Shopian Harvesters by 30 runs to lift the title.
For the young women who walked onto the field, the tournament was about more than winning a trophy. It was an opportunity to play before large crowds, test themselves in a competitive environment and inspire other girls to take up sport.
When the floodlights changed the picture
The significance of the tournament was amplified by the setting.
Under the lights of the General Bipin Rawat Stadium, women’s cricket was no longer confined to small local grounds or daytime competitions. Players competed before spectators who had come not only from Baramulla but from different parts of Kashmir.
The later Chinar Premier League (CPL) extended that sporting momentum to the wider youth community, with organisers reporting around 30,000 spectators at the final.
The stadium had become a place where sport, entertainment and community participation converged.
A commander and a sporting push
Members of Baramulla’s sporting community have credited Major General Manoj Joshi, VSM, GOC 19 Infantry Division, with providing strong institutional support for the arrangements that made the floodlit matches possible.
Local players and organisers describe him as approachable and people-friendly, saying his engagement with youth and sporting stakeholders helped create greater enthusiasm around the tournaments.
According to local organisers, the arrangements for the day-and-night matches were put in place within a short period, helping make possible what they describe as a significant first for women’s cricket at the Baramulla stadium.
The Indian Army, District Administration and J&K administration have also been acknowledged by local stakeholders for supporting sporting activities and providing platforms for youth and women.
The role of 46 Rashtriya Rifles has similarly been acknowledged by organisers for providing support during the events.
The man behind Baramulla’s cricket culture
Behind the growing cricket movement is a local passion that has been developing for years.
Zubair Ahmad Dar, a cricket enthusiast and entrepreneur from Kanispora, began organising tournaments in 2016, bringing teams from different districts of Jammu and Kashmir together.
His first tournament was a daytime event. But Dar wanted to take the idea further.
“I started thinking about how we could make it bigger,” he recalled.
Night cricket followed, along with floodlights, LED screens and digital scoreboards. Live commentary and streaming became part of the presentation, while the lighting infrastructure was upgraded further this year.
For Dar, the purpose is bigger than cricket.
“The future of youth is my first priority,” he said.
His journey reflects a wider effort by local sporting enthusiasts to create opportunities for young people and develop a stronger cricketing culture in North Kashmir.
From local tournament to regional platform
The 2026 CPL further expanded the scale of Baramulla’s cricket movement. Organisers said 130 teams registered, with 79 selected teams eventually taking part in the tournament.
The competition became a platform for youth engagement, talent identification and sporting interaction among players from different parts of the Valley.
The crowds grew with every stage.
The knockout phase drew thousands of spectators, while the final attracted a much larger gathering, creating an atmosphere more commonly associated with major sporting events.
For local residents, the significance lies not only in the numbers but in what happens inside the stadium: young people meeting, competing, supporting their teams and sharing the same sporting space.
A new image of Baramulla
Baramulla’s story is not simply about cricket replacing a difficult past. It is about the emergence of new spaces where young people can express themselves through talent, competition and ambition.
The CWPL placed women’s empowerment at the centre of that story.
The CPL broadened it into a youth movement.
Together, the tournaments have helped turn the General Bipin Rawat Stadium into a meeting point for cricketers, families, students, sports lovers and communities from across the region.
For many spectators, seeing girls and boys play under the same floodlights offered a powerful image of a younger generation focused on sport and opportunity.
Baramulla still carries the memory of a difficult past. But the stadium is now producing a different set of images—young cricketers under floodlights, women leading from the front, families filling the stands and thousands gathering around sport.
And perhaps that is the most telling part of Baramulla’s new sporting story.
The floodlights have not erased the past. They have illuminated another future.
For a new generation in Baramulla, the message is increasingly being written not on the streets, but on the cricket field—through talent, opportunity, women’s empowerment and the aspirations of youth.
This is the emerging story of Naya Kashmir, with Baramulla increasingly presenting itself as a “Wadi-e-Tarjuman” for the dreams and ambitions of its young generation.
