The Ranji Trophy 2026-27 season is poised for an exciting start this Sunday, as top India cricketers and promising young talents converge to compete for the coveted domestic title.
IMAGE: Jammu and Kashmir won a historic first Ranji Trophy title in 2025-26, ending a long wait of 67 years. Photograph: ANI Photo
Key Points
- The Ranji Trophy 2026-27 season commences from Sunday, featuring several India cricketers.
- Players like KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal will use the tournament for red-ball practice before travelling to New Zealand for a two-match Test series.
- Mohammed Shami hopes strong performances for Bengal might pique selectors’ interest in him, especially with five Tests against Australia early next year.
- Young talents from states like Bihar and Jharkhand, including Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Kumar Kushagra, are eager to impress selectors.
- Jammu and Kashmir, the 2025-26 champions, face a tougher challenge defending their title against better-prepared opponents.
The presence of India cricketers will provide gravitas to the Ranji Trophy 2026-27, which begins across venues from Sunday, and it will be interesting to see whether it can produce another miracle winner.
Jammu and Kashmir sent shockwaves across the power corridors of the premier domestic tournament, clinching the 2025-26 edition with a win over eight-time champions and star-studded Karnataka.
But more than anyone else, J&K will know that defending that title will be far tougher as the opponents now will be better prepared against them.
The traditional powerhouses like Mumbai, Karnataka, Bengal, Delhi, Saurashtra and Vidarbha along with more recently developed sides like Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Maharashtra etc too will be wanting to lift that crown on February 27, 2027.
Defending Champions and Top Contenders
But across these teams, a clutch of India players will be making a rather rare appearance in the domestic circuit.
KL Rahul (Karnataka), Washington Sundar (Tamil Nadu), Ravindra Jadeja (Saurashtra), Yashasvi Jaiswal (Mumbai), Rajat Patidar (Madhya Pradesh) are among a few elite players who will be seen either fully or partly in this season’s Ranji Trophy.
Along with favourable results for their respective teams, each of these players also carry individual motives into the tournament.
For Rahul and Jaiswal, it will be a chance to gain some valuable red ball time before travelling to New Zealand for a two-match Test series.
Washington will be eager to fine-tune his bowling skills before a possible selection to India’s Test squad, as hinted by his withdrawal from the ongoing T20I series against the West Indies.
India Stars’ Return and Individual Goals
But then there are a few other players like Mohammed Shami who has been away from India tent for a while now.
Shami has not played Test cricket since 2023 and any format since 2025 despite some stellar outings in last season’s domestic competitions.
But his dim hopes of coming back to the national set up might have been fuelled by the recent return of Bhuvneshwar Kumar to India’s T20I side for the tour to New Zealand.
With India set to play five Tests at home against Australia early next year, Shami will hope that some strong shows for Bengal might pique selectors’ interest in him.
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The five wisemen will also be closely monitoring the freshers as well as veterans to widen the pool of options along the season, particularly because of the recent spate of injuries to several frontline names.
In that context, many young names will also be eager to impress the bigwigs with some consistent efforts.
Emerging Young Talents To Watch
Teen phenom Vaibhav Sooryavanshi placed Bihar firmly on the world cricketing map and, now, a few others such as Saqibul Gani will want to cash in on that newfound focus on the state.
Jharkhand has quietly become the hub of some exciting batting talents. They no longer depend on the legacy of MS Dhoni or the one-man show of Ishan Kishan.
Kumar Kushagra, Anukul Roy, Shikhar Mohan, Virat Singh and Sharandeep Singh are carrying their work forward with some excellent knocks and Jharkhand will expect a big season from them.
Among the young bowlers, Tamil Nadu’s Gurjapneet Singh, Harsh Dubey (Vidarbha), Tripurana Vijay (Telangana), Zeeshan Ansari (Uttar Pradesh) etc will be keen to catch the selectors’ eyes.
Even though the initial part of the season will be all about India stars, these young names and some experienced players will have to helm the rest of the season.
It will be equally fascinating.
Matches start across the venues at 9.30 am.