The third round of the 2025/26 Ranji Trophy concluded yesterday (November 4). Here are the main talking points from the latest action.
Suryavanshi announces himself in red-ball cricket
Vaibhav Suryavanshi first came to the wider attention of the cricketing world when he made his first-class debut aged 12 (!) in January 2024. It was only after that, that he played for India U19, earned an IPL contract, blasted an IPL century and more.
Suryavanshi was named Bihar’s vice-captain for this season, but until the latest Ranji Trophy round, he had only 114 runs in seven first-class games. Of course, given what he has already achieved, it was only a matter of time before he announced himself.
Against Meghalaya, he cracked a maiden half-century off 33 balls, and went on to make 93 off 67 in all, with nine fours and four sixes. Had he made seven more, he would (unsurprisingly) have become the youngest Ranji Trophy centurion ever. It can’t be long now before that triple-digit score comes.
Experience counts…
Round three was another one that saw a couple of stalwarts put their hands up. Back at Karnataka after his spell with Vidarbha, Karun Nair scored a second consecutive hundred of the season, converting this into a double ton. Since the start of the last Ranji Trophy season, he now has 1,351 runs at 71.1 in the competition. Unfortunately, a lean England tour between this season and the last has probably put paid to his hopes of playing for India again.
Hanuma Vihari is still only 32, but hasn’t played Test cricket since 2022. He moved to Tripura ahead of this season but only managed 46 runs in his first two games. Against Bengal in the latest round though, he came in at 29-2 and saw his side slip to 93-6.
Vihari stuck it out to make 141 off 253 balls, with support from Tamil Nadu import Vijay Shankar (34) and then captain Manisankar Murasingh (102*). By the time Vihari was out, Tripura were only 21 runs away from a first-innings lead, which Murasingh promptly helped to secure.
Elsewhere, former (never say never, but it is unlikely he plays again) India white-ball international – and T20I centurion – Deepak Hooda scored his first double century for nine years, for Rajasthan against Mumbai, no less. That helped his side secure the first-innings lead as well.
… except when it doesn’t
On the flip side of the coin, two India Test stars had a difficult time of things. Mohammed Shami was in the Bengal team that took on Vihari’s Tripura. Perhaps surprisingly, Shami did not have a hand in the early carnage of that innings. In fact, he sent down 25 wicketless overs. His younger brother, Mohammed Kaif, playing for the first time this season, claimed bragging rights in the family with 4-79 in 24 overs.
Ajinkya Rahane had a tough outing for Mumbai as well. In the first innings against Rajasthan he made three after Yashasvi Jaiswal (67) and Musheer Khan (49) had blunted the new ball. In the second, he made a rather scratchy 18 off 53, after coming in at 149-1.
After eight wickets in the previous game, Shami had curtly clapped back at selector Ajit Agarkar for his ongoing non-selection to India’s Test side. Rahane made a century last week, and promptly took the opportunity to re-upload a clip from his YouTube channel touching upon the importance of domestic performances for national selection. There will probably not be much forthcoming this week.
Gen-next knows how to score big
There were big runs around the grounds in the latest fixtures for some of India’s younger batters. Left-hander Ravichandran Smaran made a double century for Karnataka alongside Nair, boosting his first-class average to nearly 69 from 16 matches so far.
Read more: Ravichandran Smaran: A future all-format star in the making
Last season’s Ranji top-scorer Yash Rathod took his tally to 775 for the domestic season across the Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy and Irani Cup, with 133 against Tamil Nadu. On the opposition, one-time India A regular Pradosh Ranjan Paul made 113. Both players now average over 55, with over 2,000 runs to their name in first-class cricket.
Goa’s Abhinav Tejrana scored a double century on first-class debut earlier this season, and made triple-figures for the second time with 131 against Punjab. 25-year-old Delhi batter Sanat Sangwan scored 99 & 122* against Puducherry. He now has 568 runs in three games this season at an average of 142. Before it began, that tally was 385 in seven matches.
What is the state of India’s pace stocks?
There was a theme in this round, and it was not very different to the stereotypical idea of first-class cricket in India; i.e. batters get runs and spinners take wickets. The main stories were the aforementioned big scores, and the odd slow bowler impressing – Anukul Roy, for example, took 13-90 against Nagaland.
The red-ball pace bowling cupboard continues to bear a rather bare look. Khaleel Ahmed, Gurnoor Brar, Anshul Kamboj and Yash Thakur are away with India A, leaving the Ranji Trophy bereft of its best talents.
Auqib Nabi, perhaps unlucky to miss out on a spot in that squad, returned 2-90 in 33 overs for Jammu & Kashmir against Chhattisgarh. The standout performance by a quick came in that same game, as 34-year-old Ravi Kiran returned 7-82 and got to 250 first-class wickets in the process.
Karnataka’s Vidwath Kaverappa did show some promise, with 4-42 and 2-28. Of his six wickets though, three were tail-enders MD Nidheesh (twice) and Vaisakh Chandran.
Ashok Sharma, 23 and part of two IPL franchises already, did account for Rahane, Siddesh Lad and Sarfaraz Khan in his 3-76 against Mumbai, in his second first-class match. He could be one to keep an eye on.
Honourable mentions: Punjab’s captaincy change and Jaiswal’s wicket
On day one of the round (November 1), Punjab sprung a surprise by naming Uday Saharan captain. Perhaps not a bad choice, given Saharan led India U19 in the 2024 World Cup, and Punjab U23 in last season’s CK Nayudu Trophy.
But it was only his third first-class match, and regular captain Naman Dhir was still in the XI. Punjab did not provide a reason for the change. But it didn’t seem to matter to Saharan, who scored his maiden senior century and now has 290 runs in his first three games.
In Jaipur, Deepak Hooda may have scored 248, but in the end he lost his wicket to Yashasvi Jaiswal (who also scored 67 and 156). It was the India opener’s maiden first-class wicket, 47 matches and nearly seven years into his career. Perhaps India should get him to roll his arm over a bit more. We know Gautam Gambhir likes his all-rounders…
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