Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Abhishek Sharma plays a shot during the IPL 2026 match against Delhi Capitals in Hyderabad on April 21, 2026
| Photo Credit: Nagara Gopal

Player of the Tournament Sanju Samson leads the winning quartet, after the opener’s 321 runs from just five innings.
| Photo Credit: AP

India won its third ICC T20 World Cup title with an emphatic win over New Zealand.
| Photo Credit: Vijay Soneji

A little after 7.30 p.m. on Saturday in Thiruvananthapuram, chants of ‘Ishaaaan, Ishan’ rang around the Greenfield International Stadium as everyone packing the stands roared as one in approbation. After an uncharacteristically tepid start, Ishan Kishan had started to find his bearings, manifesting his aggression with a four and a six, through and over the off-side, off successive deliveries from Lockie Ferguson, who had accounted for both Indian wickets to fall at that stage.

What’s the big deal, you say? An Indian crowd cheering an Indian batter at an Indian venue? Isn’t that how it always has been?

But yes, this was a big deal. Here’s why.

One of the two wickets in the pocket of Ferguson, the tearaway Kiwi playing his first match of the T20I series, was that of Sanju Samson, hometown hero bar none, the toast of God’s own country, the man who can do no wrong even when he is exasperatingly infuriating with the bat.

Samson had just 40 runs in four outings coming into the final match, and desperately needed a score of substance to stay ahead of Kishan in the race to the wicketkeeper-batter/opener’s slot at the T20 World Cup, now not even a week away.

But the 31-year-old right-hander who has allowed glaring technical shortcomings to infest his game — what are head coach Gautam Gambhir and batting coach Sitanshu Kotak doing?? – courted another failure, caught at deep third-man trying to work an awayswinger from outside off to the on-side and only managing a leading edge. His contribution this time was a princely six runs, of which four came off an aerial outside edge that flew through untenanted short third-man and to the boundary in the second over.

Kerala, the land primarily but not only of athletics and football, hasn’t produced too many international men cricketers. Sunil Valson (who was part of the 1983 World Cup-winning squad but never got a game), Abey Kuruvilla and Ajay Jadeja all had links with the State through language, though none of them represented Kerala at the domestic level. Tinu Yohannan was the first Kerala player to play for India, and even though he took a wicket in his first over in Test cricket (Mohali, 2001, against England), he didn’t quite kick on.

S. Sreesanth arrived in a blazing run of wickets and histrionic idiosyncrasies but self-destructed with as much flamboyance as he mesmerised with his control over wrist and seam, while Samson has promised much but not quite lived up to that promise, though recent developments suggest that had he not been moved around in the batting order so much, he might have started to deliver on a more sustained basis. But such is the depth of options when it comes to T20 cricket particularly, and so intense is the competition for places, that few can afford to insist on a settled batting position to state their case.

Big deal

It is against this backdrop that the support for Kishan in the Kerala capital becomes a big deal. Samson’s third-over dismissal enveloped the stadium in the deafening sound of silence, which soon gave way to polite applause by way of encouragement. Kishan passed the exiting Samson — no glances exchanged, which doesn’t mean anything because each of them was caught up in their own world — not worried about anything else apart from making a contribution to the team’s cause. Whatever else came out of that would be a bonus.

Kishan himself has overcome a challenging phase — the loss of his central contract after refusing to follow BCCI orders and making himself unavailable for domestic cricket in early 2024, and an extended stay on the sidelines, not even close to an international comeback — to reach where he is today. Once wisdom dawned and saner counsel prevailed, he shed petulance and affected indignation to knuckle down and reel off attractive, bruising, impactful runs, for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL and for Jharkhand on the domestic circuit. He wasn’t sure what the endgame would be, but he seemed remarkably sanguine about that. And so, the runs flowed, with great ease and tremendous outcomes. He led Jharkhand to the 20-over Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy glory for the first time late last year, capping a stellar run with a hundred in the final, and made a strong case for himself without having to scream from the rooftops.

Destiny has a funny way of expressing itself. By October last year, India had pretty much decided that Shubman Gill, the all-format captain-in-waiting, would be in the starting XI for the T20 World Cup, and that their wicketkeeper-batter would man the middle-order. That’s why Samson was shunted down the order in the first place; Gill’s return to international T20s was an unqualified failure while Samson couldn’t re-adjust to middle-overs demands and was briefly replaced by Jitesh Sharma.

When the decision-makers finally chose to pull the plug on the Gill experiment, just before the New Zealand series, Samson was back in the opening fray, with Kishan rewarded for his outstanding form by being named the back-up opener/stumper. If all other things had been equal, the little left-hander would largely have looked on from the outside, thankful for being reintegrated with the national setup but wondering when his turn would come. As it transpired, Tilak Varma developed a condition that necessitated surgery during the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy and therefore Kishan got the opportunity to bat at No. 3.

Smart and obvious

In so many ways, that was such a smart if obvious call. The temptation to play Shreyas Iyer, the 50-over vice-captain called up as Tilak’s replacement, would have been immense, but Gambhir and Suryakumar Yadav chose to stick with the personnel in the World Cup 15, hence the unexpected Kishan recall. They say that when certain things are meant to happen, all the forces in the universe come together to facilitate that eventuality. No one will agree more with that than the 27-year-old from Patna.

Kishan is no stranger to extreme success internationally. He is one of only five Indians to boast an ODI double-century (against Bangladesh in December 2022). His 210 is the fastest ODI double ever with the promise of more to follow until he shot himself in the foot 12 months later by returning home midway through the all-format tour of South Africa and then choosing to ignore Board orders with regard to domestic participation. Chastened and having learnt his lessons, he is now a more dangerous version of his explosive positive self, his growing maturity manifesting itself in greater prudence in shot-selection and a wider array of strokes that has erased the tag of ‘slogger’ some had attached to him.

Having made just eight in Nagpur on his return to the Indian XI after 26 months, Kishan fired the imagination with a breathtaking 76 (32 balls) in Raipur as India hunted down 209 with 28 deliveries to spare. A teaser in Guwahati, 28 off 13, set up India’s chase of 154 (achieved with a whopping 10 overs in the bag) before he missed the mid-week Visakhapatnam defeat with an unspecified niggle.

In Thiruvananthapuram, it was Kishan at his ferocious best, targeting both sides of the field, and taking pacers and spinners apart with equal felicity, belligerence and intrepidness. There were no half-measures; when he struck the ball, he struck it uncomplicatedly and no one was spared though he took a special liking to Ish Sodhi, the leg-spinner with Indian roots.

Four fours and two sixes came off the leggie’s third (and final) over, the ball disappearing here, there and everywhere. Among the fours was a nonchalant switch-hit. Some 20 minutes later, he hammered New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner for back-to-back sixes, the second of them taking him to three-figures. It’s a sign of how popular he is that Hardik Pandya, the non-striker who had captained Kishan for one season when the latter was still at Mumbai Indians, celebrated with greater gusto than the protagonist himself.

Kishan has now made himself undroppable, so to say. Even had Samson hit a rich vein of form, it would have been impossible to overlook the younger man’s credentials, but now, it is almost a no-brainer that Kishan will be India’s preferred opener/wicketkeeper at the World Cup. Once Tilak is back in the fray — and that could be as early as in the opener against United States on Saturday — then Samson will have to make way, a reality that the 31-year-old must all too painfully be aware of. He will also know that he has no one else to blame but himself, but he will not grudge Kishan his success because that’s not how he is wired.

The ultimate non-vocal confirmation that Kishan has zoomed ahead of Samson in the selection debate came when he was entrusted with the big gloves as India set out to defend their tally of 271 for five, their third highest T20I total. Hitherto, it was Samson behind the sticks and Kishan manning the outfield, scurrying around busily as he used his short but powerful strides to great effect. Kishan will be the first to concede that he didn’t have a great time behind the stumps, spurning a couple of straightforward stumping opportunities, but that can happen when one hasn’t kept wickets in a game situation for a while, even if one has spent plenty of time at practice ensuring that the primary — or is it now secondary? — skill isn’t ignored.

India have an enviable arsenal of aggressive riches, with the icing on the cake coming in the shape of Suryakumar, who shed a horrendous patch in 2025 by winning the Player-of-the-Series award, rediscovering his mojo. Because India bat deep, and because each of their batters is capable of taking down the best attacks — in this series alone, 21- and 22-ball half-centuries seem passe, given that Abhishek Sharma got there in 14 and Shivam Dube in 15 — there is one uninterrupted burst from ball one to 20. The strapping Abhishek and the pocket dynamite that Kishan is, now that is the perfect launchpad from which to wreak untold mayhem. Excitingly mouth-watering for everyone, except those in the opposition who have good reason to fear the worst.

Jharkhand capped off its remarkable run with a convincing victory in the summit clash.
| Photo Credit: Shayan Acharya

Saurashtra player Cheteshwar Pujara during a practice session at Sri Ramakrishna College cricket grounds in Coimbatore on Thursday, ahead of the Ranji Trophy match against Tamil Nadu from Friday.
| Photo Credit: Periasamy M

Ranji Trophy has an old-world charm and a present-day purpose. It is a tournament with a 90-year history, is played in Test whites with a red cherry, at grounds quaint and modern, across the length and breadth of this gigantic country.

It also occupies a prime position in the supply chain that feeds Indian cricket, especially the longer format. The sheer number of runs a batter scores or the bucketload of wickets a bowler takes are impossible to ignore, as seen recently in the ascent of Mumbai’s Sarfaraz Khan, Madhya Pradesh’s Rajat Patidar and the Bengal pace duo of Mukesh Kumar and Akash Deep.

From Friday, hundreds of cricketers will take the field with these very hopes as this year’s edition begins with 38 teams split across the Elite and Plate divisions. Old warhorses like Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha and Cheteshwar Pujara, the red and white-ball straddlers like Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer, and a battery of young and fledgling cricketers will be eager to show their worth.

But their first test will be to deal with the competition’s tweaked format this season. To ensure that matches, especially in northern and eastern India, aren’t disrupted by the winter fog, Ranji Trophy has been split into two phases, with the first five rounds running until November 16, and the last two rounds and the knockouts slated to begin from January 23, 2025.

Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (T20) and Vijay Hazare Trophy (50 overs) will be sandwiched in between, presenting a unique challenge of switching from red ball to white and back to red in a short time. Where players will get a respite, however, is in the spacing between games. Against the standard three-day gap in 2023-24, the break is set to progressively increase this time around.

Among the biggest beneficiaries will be the fast bowlers. With India set to tour Australia for a gruelling five-Test series beginning November 22, pacers are prized commodities. The form and fitness of the lanky Karnataka speedster Prasidh Krishna will be keenly observed while it remains to be seen if Mohammed Shami, who hasn’t played since the 2023 World Cup final against Australia because of an ankle injury, chooses a Ranji game for Bengal to mark his competitive return.

It is said that Ranji Trophy is more followed than watched. The fact that it runs parallel to the Indian national team’s home season means players will be forced to compete for attention. But importance and relevance are not something the tournament lacks. It is like a timeless piece of art that doesn’t need repeated explanations.

Ishan Kishan.
| Photo Credit: B. Jothi Ramalingam

India batter Ishan Kishan on Wednesday (October 9, 2024) returned to the Jharkhand Ranji team as its captain, following his controversial pullout last season that led to his exclusion from the BCCI central contract.

The explosive left-hander, who became a regular in India’s white-ball squad after Rishabh Pant’s road accident in December 2022, took a break during India’s tour of South Africa last year.

Post break, he did not participate in any official BCCI matches, which raised a few eyebrows as the board stressed on players prioritising domestic cricket when not on national duty.

The 26-year-old resurfaced this February, playing in the privately organised DY Patil T20 Cup ahead of the IPL and sparking a debate over balance between franchise cricket and state commitments.

His absence from domestic cricket during this period contributed to his omission from the BCCI’s 2023-24 central contracts.

However, Kishan has since worked his way back into the BCCI’s good books with strong performances in domestic cricket, including a century for India C on his return in the Duleep Trophy last month.

He also represented the Rest of India in the Irani Cup, scoring 38 in his only innings.

Now, as captain of Jharkhand’s 16-member squad, Kishan is set to lead a young squad with last season’s designated skipper Virat Singh as his deputy and Kumar Kushagra as the wicketkeeper.

Jharkhand begin their Ranji Trophy campaign against Assam in Guwahati in Elite Group D.

Last season, Jharkhand finished third from the bottom in Group A, winning two, losing two, and drawing three of their seven matches.

“Ishan is an experienced player and he has international experience,” chairman of Jharkhand’s selection committee Subroto Das was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.

“We have picked a very young team. Saurabh Tiwary, Shahbaz Nadeem and Varun Aaron had all retired after last season so we had to rethink our strategy. Ishan is capable of leading this young side and we’re confident of doing well this Ranji season.”

Squad: Ishan Kishan (c), Virat Singh (vc), Kumar Kushagra (wk), Nazim Siddique, Aryaman Sen, Sharandeep Singh, Kumar Suraj, Anukul Roy, Utkarsh Singh, Supriyo Chakraborty, Saurabh Shekhar, Vikas Kumar, Vivekanand Tiwary, Manishi, Ravi Kumar Yadav and Raunak Kumar.

India C’s Ishan Kishan in action againt India B during the Duleep Trophy cricket (India-B vs. India-C) in Anantapur on Thursday, September 13, 2024.
| Photo Credit: B. Jothi Ramalingam

That Ishan Kishan batted from out of nowhere was surprising, but his sparkly strokes weren’t as his 111 (126b, 14×4, 3×6) helped India-C rack up 357 for five on day one versus India-B in the second round of the Duleep Trophy at the Rural Development Trust stadium B-ground here on Thursday.

This is the first-ever first-class match being played at the ground and Ishan, who initially wasn’t in the India-C squad, marked the occasion with a special innings in which he seemed to be tested with short balls.

In fact, he was dropped twice off short balls in successive overs when he was in his thirties. He pulled Navdeep Saini to deep backward square leg, where Nitish Kumar Reddy leapt and stopped a certain six even if he couldn’t hold on to it. In the next over, Ishan mistimed a pull off Nitish and this time, Mukesh Kumar from mid on had to shuffle, turn back, run, and dive for a dropped catch.

But these were just aberrations in an otherwise dominant innings. For instance, after tea, he hooked a short ball off Saini behind square on the leg side for it to sail for a six over the tall Sai Kishore, who also leapt a bit, on the outfield. He brought up his hundred with a straight four off Sai Kishore and then seemingly decided to go for the jugular. After a pull for a six to the square leg boundary off Mukesh Kumar, he charged and missed his big hit to be bowled on the next ball.

He accumulated 189 runs with Baba Indrajith (78, 136b, 9×4), who dug in and held on to the other end. Indrajith was fortunate when he edged Saini to be caught by Sarfaraz Khan at slip off a no-ball. A spin-master, he remarkably played two exotic cover drives off Sai Kishore.

Skipper and opener Ruturaj Gaikwad retired hurt a ball after he’d hit the first ball of the match for a four off Mukesh. He’d apparently twisted his ankle while running and appeared in serious discomfort before going off. But he returned after Ishan’s dismissal and seemed to continue the latter’s flamboyant stroke-making.

The Decision Review System (DRS) is unavailable for this match.

The scores (second round, day one): India-C (1st innings): Ruturaj Gaikwad (not out) 46, Sai Sudharsan c Saini b Mukesh 43, Rajat Patidar b Saini 40, Ishan Kishan b Mukesh 111, Baba Indrajith b Chahar 78, Abishek Porel lbw b Mukesh 12, Manav Suthar (not out) 8; Extras (b-4, lb-5, w-5, nb-5): 19; Total (in 79 overs): 357/5.

Fall of wickets: 1-96, 2-97, 3-286, 4-311, 5-345.

India-B bowling: Mukesh 21-3-76-3, Saini 17-2-78-1, Washington 10-0-55-0, Nitish 14-2-58-0, Sai Kishore 12-0-46-0, Rahul Chahar 5-0-35-1.

Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan are seen during a practice session. File
| Photo Credit: R.V. Moorthy

The exclusion of Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer from the list of centrally-contracted players was a decision that was solely taken by chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar, BCCI secretary Jay Shah has revealed, asserting that “nobody is indispensable”.

Kishan and Iyer were left out after failing to show up for domestic engagements despite a directive from the BCCI. While Kishan went on a long break after the end of the ODI World Cup last year and remained unavailable until the IPL, Iyer eventually did feature in a few matches for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy including the semifinal and the final.

However, Iyer still found himself at the receiving end after it emerged that he had attended a Kolkata Knight Riders’ camp in Mumbai when his domestic side was busy playing a Ranji Trophy fixture.

“You can check the constitution. I am just a convener (of the selection meeting),” he said during a media interaction at the BCCI head office in Mumbai on May 9.

“That decision lies with Ajit Agarkar, even when these two players (Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer) who did not play domestic (cricket), the decision to drop them (from the central contracts list) was only his.

“My role is just to implement. And we have got new players (in place), like Sanju (Samson). Nobody is indispensable,” he added.

Shah reiterated the Board’s position that Indian players will have to prioritise domestic cricket.

In the days leading up to the contract snub, Shah had stated before the third Test between India and England in February this year that he would completely back the chief selector’s decision for any action on players who do not comply with the Indian captain and team management’s requirement for participation in domestic cricket.

Shah said he spoke with the players after their exclusion.

“Yes, I had spoken with them. Media had even carried the reports,” he said.

“Even Hardik (Pandya) said if BCCI is considering me for white-ball, then I am ready to play Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Any player will have to play, even if they do not want to, they will have to,” Shah continued.

Talking about high scores in this year’s IPL, Shah said ultimately, it comes down to who is playing well and who, as a player, can sustain performance.

“Whoever plays well in the IPL… like say Ishan Kishan, he finds it difficult to take part with the Indian team but he can play in Mumbai Indians as a player. There he can play in a relaxed manner.

“In Team India, you have to prove yourself, give back to back performances. The one who can handle that can be described as a right player,” he added.

Shah also revealed details of his conversation with Kishan, which took place after Mumbai Indians’ match against Gujarat Titans.

“No, I did not advise him anything. It was just a friendly talk that he should do well and I speak with all players like that,” he said.

While there have been a few media reports mentioning an increase in the match fees for domestic players in the country, Shah said there is no such plan.

“We have increased the pay anyway and also incentivised Test cricket. We had increased the pay by 100 per cent in 2022,” Shah added.

India’s Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer take a run during the second one-day international cricket match between India and South Africa, in Ranchi.
| Photo Credit: K.R. Deepak

Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan, who were members of India’s ODI World Cup squad, have been stripped off the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI’s) central retainer for 2023-24.

The list of 30 men’s cricketers was announced by the BCCI secretary Jay Shah on Wednesday. “Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations,” Shah stated.

While the statement does not specify the reason, the BCCI administration, along with the team-management and the selection panel, has been extremely unhappy with Kishan and Shreyas over their reluctance to participate in the Ranji Trophy.

Despite repeated directives, Kishan did not feature in the Ranji Trophy, instead preferring to train in Vadodara along with his franchise captain Hardik Pandya after returning midway through India’s tour of South Africa. After being omitted from India’s Test squad after the second Test against England, Shreyas did not turn up for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy. On Tuesday, he made himself available for Mumbai’s Ranji semifinal versus Tamil Nadu.

“The BCCI has recommended that all athletes give precedence to participating in domestic cricket during periods when they are not representing the national team,” Shah reiterated in the statement.

Despite being eligible for a pro-rata contract, The Hindu understands that the duo will not be offered a retainer at all as disciplinary action and to set a strong example for the cricketers who have been increasingly prioritising the Indian Premier League over other competitions.

Without a BCCI contract, the duo will also be unable to have the medical cover offered by the BCCI and will be able to access the BCCI training and rehab infrastructure, including the National Cricket Academy, only through a request by their respective State association.

For the first time, the BCCI has offered fast-bowling contracts for five pacers who are not among the list of 30 centrally contracted players. They include Akash Deep, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Umran Malik, Yash Dayal and Vidwath Kaverappa.

Among the list of 30 contracted cricketers, K.L. Rahul, despite a mysterious quad injury at the moment, Mohammed Siraj, Shubman Gill, Kuldeep Yadav and Yashasvi Jaiswal have been the big gainers. Jaiswal makes an entry into the contracts fold in Grade B, while Kuldeep has been promoted from Grade C to B. The remaining trio has been promoted from Grade B to A on the back of their performance in the previous contract cycle.

The BCCI’s central retainer cycle runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, so the list of 30 cricketers announced on Wednesday will be in effect till September end.

Left-arm spinner Axar Patel and wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant who has been working hard on a comeback since his road accident almost 15 months ago, have been moved from Grade B to A.

All the annual retainer fees, along with the match fees, have been left unchanged. As a result, Grade A+ cricketers will earn ₹7 crore, while the ones in Grade A, B and C will take home ₹5 crore, ₹3 crore and ₹1 crore, respectively.

As per the convention, any non-contracted cricketer — except Shreyas and Kishan — who will play a minimum of 3 Tests, eight ODIs or 10 T20Is during the contract period is eligible for a contract on a pro-rata basis since the date of his eligibility.