In this age of slam-bang cricket, how about watching a first-class game amidst the blissful facade of leafy trees? As a cricket aficionado, yours truly would opt for the second. In that context, it is time to welcome back the grand-old tournament of Indian domestic cricket — Ranji Trophy. A total of 32 teams across the length and breadth of the country will lock horns against each other in the Elite division over the next five months.
The significance of the tournament gains in the backdrop of the Indian think-tank time and again stressing upon the importance of top players participating in the Ranji Trophy. Granted that India are playing just two more Tests for the rest of the season. But the national selectors would be keeping a keen eye on the performance of certain individuals in order to fill a few gaps in the Test side for future assignments.
What has changed this season?
Not a great deal. But there is one tweak in terms of the rules for the competition. Instead of two teams, only one side will be promoted and relegated between Elite and Plate Groups. In fact, this rule change will come into the equation for all age-group, red-ball tournaments organised by the BCCI.
The initial set of matches are scheduled to take place between October 15 and November 19. Then the BCCI will host the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (T20) and Vijay Hazare Trophy (50 overs) until January 18 next year. From January 22 onwards, it will be back to a slew of Ranji games across the country. The final will take place between February 24 and February 28.
Major transfers
Vasuki Koushik: Karnataka to Goa
R Samarth: Uttarakhand to Vidarbha
Jitesh Sharma: Vidarbha to Baroda
Aditya Sarwate: Kerala to Chhattisgarh
Prithvi Shaw: Mumbai to Maharashtra
Vijay Shankar: Tamil Nadu to Tripura
Jalaj Saxena: Kerala to Maharashtra
Saurabh Kumar: Uttar Pradesh to Andhra Pradesh
Hanuma Vihari: Andhra to Tripura
Swapnil Singh: Uttarakhand to Tripura
Karun Nair: Vidarbha to Karnataka
Players to watch out for
Prithvi Shaw: The swashbuckling top-order batter has made a switch from Mumbai to Maharashtra. Unfortunately, his name is still associated with controversies. The latest came in a practice match between Maharashtra and Mumbai, his former team. While walking back to the pavilion, a visibly upset Shaw confronted several of his former teammates, and he was involved in a heated altercation with Musheer Khan.
The good part was Shaw ended up with an enterprising 181. Just a snippet of that innings indicates that he has tweaked his game a touch — basing his game more on old-school methods like loading up on the back foot and trying to transfer his weight on to the front foot. Hopefully, with a glut of runs, Shaw will revive his floundering career.
Harsh Dubey: The bowling all-rounder chipped in with five wickets in the recently concluded Irani Cup game between Vidarbha and Rest of India. More importantly, the spinner bagged 69 scalps last season, helping Vidarbha to their third Ranji title. Dubey uses the width of the crease quite well — from mid-crease to wider — to sow seeds of doubt in the minds of the batter.
This salient feature of his bowling could be further exemplified by how he went about dismantling Mumbai’s batting in the 2023-24 Ranji final. Harsh is also a useful batter down the order, averaging 25.44 in first-class cricket.
Jalaj Saxena: This all-rounder’s name has to be mentioned just for his sheer consistency in domestic cricket. Saxena, who has shifted from Kerala to Maharashtra, has had a stellar first-class career with 484 wickets. He also has over 2,000 first-class runs to his name. The 38-year-old was also the fifth highest wicket-taker during last season’s Ranji Trophy with 40 scalps.
Abhimanyu Easwaran and Yash Rathod: Abhimanyu, the Bengal top-order bat, and Yash Rathod, the middle-order bat from Vidarbha, are at slightly different stages of their respective careers. But both would be looking to impress the selectors with their run-making abilities. Incidentally, Rathod topped the batting charts during the 2024-25 Ranji season with 960 runs.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi: Amongst the younger ones, Vaibhav Suryavanshi will hog the limelight. The 14-year-old prodigy has been named the vice-captain of Bihar, despite not having much leadership experience. Alongside his blazing hundred for Rajasthan Royals last season, he has two U-19 Test centuries in less than 100 deliveries. The southpaw has also crunched a 52-ball hundred versus England U-19 in a one-day match.
Gurnoor Brar and Gurjapneet Singh: These two pace bowlers, who stand at well over 6 feet, have been fast-tracked into the India A set-up. The former who plays for Punjab, is the quicker of the two and hits the deck hard. Gurjapneet, the left-armer, who turns out for Tamil Nadu, can find nifty movement and is also good at extracting bounce from a round-the-wicket angle. It is clear that the selectors are eyeing either tall fast bowlers or left-arm pacers.
Deepesh Devendran’s name is also worth a mention. The pace bowler with an unorthodox action — 11 o’clock release — impressed during the India U-19 team’s recent tour of Australia. If and when picked by Tamil Nadu during the course of the season, he could rattle quite a few batters with his bounce and awkward angles.
In the final analysis, Vidarbha, the defending champions, might start as the marginal favourites, especially considering the strength and depth in their batting unit. Lest we forget that the Shardul Thakur-led Mumbai side will be hoping to regain the Ranji Trophy — a tournament they have won a record 42 times. On an interesting note, Andhra will be coached by Gary Stead this season. Stead is arguably New Zealand’s most successful coach.
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