India, Feb. 28 -- Jammu & Kashmir's spectacular ascent to their first Ranji Trophy title points to an important aspect of cricket in India: the game has achieved near-perfect saturation in the country's sporting culture. Even a small but consistent nudge in the right direction can now propel a region or team towards unprecedented success.

Every state that is not a cricketing powerhouse yet should sit up and take note of what J&K did right, to get to the pinnacle of the domestic game.

This team has been playing the Ranji for 67 years, yet, for a variety of interconnected reasons - internal strife, political instability, militancy, lack of jobs, a poor economy - has had only the most bare-bones infrastructure. To begin with, there are jus...