Jammu & Kashmir to host Rest of India in Irani Cup at Sher-i-Kashmir Stadium

From Thursday in Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir will meet Rest of India in the Irani Cup at the Sher-i-Kashmir Stadium, with both teams completing practice sessions on Wednesday.

Srinagar’s attractions — described in the article as the moniker ‘Paradise on Earth’ — include Dal Lake with shikara rides from dawn to dusk, chinar trees whose leaves turn crimson before carpeting the turf in autumn, and local cuisine such as the multi-course wazwan and kahwa tea. Cricket has rarely been central to conversations in the city; the Sher-i-Kashmir Stadium hosted two ODIs in the 1980s, including the 1983 India v West Indies match in which an unruly crowd dug up the pitch. The stadium, nestled in the foothills of the Zabarwan mountain range, is hosting what the article describes as arguably its biggest cricketing contest since the 1980s.

Jammu & Kashmir arrive as the Ranji Trophy holders for 2025-26, and the local interest partly centres on how the team responds to the tag of defending champion. The Rest of India side includes experienced names and younger players, creating a mixture the article describes as a “nice blend of proven performers like Pant and Sarfaraz Khan and young talents like Manav Suthar and Shikhar Mohan.” The piece notes that players on both sides have “plenty to gain.”

Interest around the fixture was visible on Wednesday afternoon as both teams wrapped up their practice sessions, with a queue of fans—largely youngsters—lining up outside one of the side gates in pursuit of passes. Photo captions accompanying the report show Rest of India captain Rishabh Pant at a practice session and Rest of India vice-captain Sarfaraz Khan at a training session. The article records palpable local curiosity about the match and the crowds seeking access to the stadium.

Jammu & Kashmir: Paras Dogra (Capt.), Shubham Khajuria, Qamran Iqbal, Yawer Hassan, Shubham Pundir, Abdul Samad, Kawalpreet Singh, Kanhaiya Wadhawan (wk), Abid Mushtaq, Sahil Lotra, Vanshaj Sharma, Sunil Kumar, Umar Nazir, Lone Nasir Muzaffar, Rohit Sharma.

Rest of India: Rishabh Pant (Capt. & wk), Sanat Sangwan, Sudip Gharami, Sarfaraz Khan, Ayush Doseja, R. Smaran, Shikhar Mohan, Aryan Juyal (wk), Anukul Roy, Manav Suthar, Saransh Jain, Akash Deep, Mukesh Kumar, Mukesh Choudhary, Aryan Pandey.

The Irani Cup match between Jammu & Kashmir and the Rishabh Pant-led Rest of India begins on Thursday at the Sher-i-Kashmir Stadium in Srinagar, with both sides having concluded their preparatory sessions the day before.