In a group that features Saurashtra, Andhra, and Karnataka, a revamped Punjab will have no qualms in kicking off its Ranji Trophy 2026-27 season against Assam at the New PCA Stadium here, starting Sunday.

Assam picked just three points last season and barely avoided a drop to the Plate division, making it the ideal team to face for a newly-assembled unit.

Besides roping in a new head coach in Amit Uniyal, Punjab has placed its bets on a young batting core. International commitments keep Prabhsimran Singh and Naman Dhir out of the first two rounds, and their absence will be another chance for Harnoor Singh Pannu to establish his credentials. The southpaw opener struck 170 against Kerala on his Punjab debut last season but ended with a slew of middling scores.

The new additions have not come at the expense of Punjab’s trademark attacking flair, as IPL stars Ramandeep Singh and Salil Arora have retained their spots.

Emanjot Singh Chahal, who was the Under-23 captain last season, takes a leap into First-Class this year. He joins the senior side on the back of a 10-for for Rest of India against Tamil Nadu U-23 last week.

In the two games played at the venue last year, pacers returned better yields, averaging 27, than the tweakers, who averaged close to 37, making Punjab’s pace salvo of Umesh Yadav and Gurnoor Brar an enticing prospect to watch out for.

While Punjab has dared to change, Assam begins its new season with its core intact. Its top four run-getters last season — Sibsankar Das, Swarupam Purkayastha, Sumit Ghadigaonkar and captain Denish Das — all retain their places.

Pacer Mukhtar Hussain had replaced Akash Deep in the Duleep Trophy in 2025, but has since faded from memory. He had just 11 wickets at an average of 56 last season, and needs a drastic upturn to be in the reckoning again, even at the zonal level.

All-rounder Naman Dhir had a dream debut, picking up three wickets with his off-spin to help India bowl out West Indies for 171 in the first T20 International of the five-match series in Lucknow on Tuesday (October 6, 2026).

Dhir finished with impressive figures of 3/31, while Kuldeep Yadav also scalped 2 for 33 to help India restrict West Indies to a manageable total.

Sent into bat, West Indies skipper Shai Hope started the innings in a flurry, smacking Mayank Yadav for four boundaries in the second over to set the tone.

The four boundaries forced skipper Shreyas Iyer to replace Mayank with Axar Patel in third over.

Arshdeep got the first breakthrough for India, cleaning up Kamil Pooran with a pitch-up delivery.

West Indies were dealt another blow in the sixth over when Shimron Hetmyer was run out while going for an unnecessary single.

It turned out to be double blow for the West Indies as Axar cleaned up Rovman Powell in the sixth over with a pitch-up delivery after the right-hander went for a huge heave over square-leg.

Sherfane Rutherford (56 off 34) gave the much needed impetus to West Indies’ innings with the left-hander hitting Kuldeep Yadav for two sixes in the ninth over and then smashing Axar for two boundaries and a six in the 11th over.

Hope, who played the second fiddle after Rutherford’s entry, departed in the 12th over after a nicely-crafted 52 off 37 balls. He was caught at deep midwicket by Axar off debutant Dhir’s bowling.

Kuldeep then trapped Roston Chase plumb in front of the wicket as West Indies slipped to 114 for 5 in 12.3 overs.

After being clobbered over deep square leg for a maximum by Romario Shepherd, Dhir came back strongly to pick up his man, caught at long-off boundary by Tilak Varma.

Ishan Kishan then took a brilliant catch at deep mid-wicket off the bowling of Kuldeep to sent Rutherford packing.

Dhir picked up his third wicket in the form of Shamar Springer, caught by Axar at boundary with a toss up delivery after he was hit for a six in the earlier ball.

Returning to the set-up after an injury lay-off, pacer Mayank looked ordinary as he was taken to task by the West Indies batters before getting a wicket in the penultimate over in the form of Rutherford, caught by Dhir at deep square leg.

Axar completed the formalities for India, dismissing up Akeal Hosein, caught by Ishan at long on boundary.

Even in a bleak situation, Mumbai Indians, which is already eliminated from the IPL 2026 playoff race, is staying positive while looking to complete its engagements.

On the eve of MI’s return leg match against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens here, touring batter Naman Dhir opened up about his team’s culture.

“Motivation is the fans. We are made for the fans. Whenever our team goes into the ground, we go for the win. We will try to play our best cricket, as well as [we played] in the last match [against Punjab Kings].

“Obviously, KKR will have better plans from [what it had in] the previous encounter, but we see ourselves as favourites.”

Naman said injuries to senior players was a reason behind the five-time champion’s struggles. “Rohit (Sharma) had a hamstring injury. Suryakumar Yadav had to go on paternity leave. Hardik was not there. Quinton (de Kock) got ruled out because of injury. We missed them in crucial matches. This was also a reason that we weren’t able to perform well. We are very sad this year that we didn’t give a trophy to our fans. Sometimes we did well in bowling, sometimes in batting. We couldn’t put in a lot of collective effort.”

Naman, however, did not see playing under three captains (Hardik, Suryakumar and Jasprit Bumrah) as a distraction. “When people talk about one family, the atmosphere is always like that. All the captains have different tactics. I enjoyed playing under everyone. So, I wouldn’t say it was disturbing,” said Naman.