Ranji Trophy kicks off on Sunday with stars in opening round as schedule tightens
K.L. Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal are among the players slated to feature when the opening round of the Ranji Trophy in India begins on Sunday, with several senior names expected to leave the competition soon after for New Zealand for the A-series and then the Tests.
The Ranji Trophy, India’s premier red-ball competition, enters its 10th decade and starts this season amid a mix of established stars and opportunities for newcomers. Last season produced an unlikely champion in Jammu & Kashmir, which claimed its first Ranji title by beating Madhya Pradesh, Bengal and Karnataka in successive rounds. Auqib Nabi led that run with 60 wickets and earned an India cap in the one-day game. Vidarbha’s Harsh Dubey took 69 wickets in 2024-25 and has since played ODIs for India, while Karnataka’s R. Smaran topped the 2025-26 charts with 950 runs and, after a match-winning Irani Cup display for Rest of India, will fly out to New Zealand with the A-squad.
The tournament will run alongside a busy India home season, a scheduling overlap that has raised concerns about attention and availability. National selectors are expected to monitor performances closely because the Ranji calendar will bookend India’s upcoming Test series against New Zealand and Australia, and the matches are described as the last two opportunities for Shubman Gill & Co. to make the grade for the World Test Championship final. The Ranji season begins just over a month before the first of two Tests against New Zealand in Wellington and is scheduled to finish on the same day Australia completes its five-Test tour in Ahmedabad in March 2027.
Competition format follows the recent two-phase model, with the Vijay Hazare Trophy (50 overs) and the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (T20) scheduled between the phases. In a change from previous editions, the first phase will consist of four rounds of group-stage matches instead of five, with the remaining three rounds to be played from mid-January. Match scheduling will be compact, with no more than four days between fixtures, increasing the demands on squads and players.
There is recognition of both the risk that overlapping international commitments could reduce interest and the countervailing history of the Ranji Trophy producing standout stories and performances. Past campaigns have translated domestic success into international opportunities, as seen with Auqib Nabi and Harsh Dubey, and the current structure offers similar incentives for players outside the national side to press their claims.
The competition opens on Sunday; its first phase of condensed group matches will be followed by the Vijay Hazare and Syed Mushtaq Ali tournaments, with the remaining three Ranji rounds resuming from mid-January and the season concluding in March 2027 on the same day as Australia’s final Test in Ahmedabad.
