The 2026-27 Ranji Trophy season got underway last week. It was an action-packed opening round of matches, to all intents and purposes. There was a host of top-notch performances that caught the eye. Let’s take a look at some of the most memorable of them.
Tushar Deshpande
Mumbai’s Tushar Deshpande had a great outing against Chandigarh in their Elite Group D match at the Wankhede Stadium. The 31-year-old pacer not only picked up seven wickets in the game, including a hat-trick, but also scored 44 as Mumbai thrashed Chandigarh by an innings and 155 runs. After being put into bat, Mumbai posted 429, after which the Deshpande show began. In the blink of an eye, he took a 5-for. His hat-trick came in the 11th over of the innings. That was enough to rattle the visitors and they were eventually bowled out for 78 shortly after, conceding a 351 first-innings lead. Mumbai enforced the follow-on, and although Chandigarh did better than what they did in their first innings, their effort wasn’t enough. Deshpande took 2/37 in the second innings.
Ravichandran Smaran
The Karnataka captain played a blinder against Andhra in an Elite Group B match at Vijayawada. Ravichandran Smaran won the toss and decided to bat first. At the time, he wouldn’t have imagined that he would be back in the middle of the field to bat so soon. But that’s what happened. KL Rahul fell in the fourth over as Karnataka’s third wicket, and Smaran joined Karun Nair, who shortly after departed to leave the team reeling at 22/4. Things looked bleak, but then Smaran took control and scored a fabulous 126 off 218 balls. Although Karnataka managed to get just one point from the match after conceding a first-innings lead, it could have been worse for them if not for the 23-year-old left-hander’s century.
Shikhar Mohan
The 21-year-old left-hander from Jharkhand scored a 143 off 196 balls against Kerala in an Elite Group C match at Jamshedpur. Playing in batting-friendly home conditions, Shikhar Mohan looked in his element as he scored his runs at a strike rate of 72.95. His innings was studded with 18 fours and two sixes. When Mohan fell to Vaisakh Chandran as the second wicket, Jharkhand had 250 on the board, and that says how dominating the batter was. The match ended in a draw, but Jharkhand (587) picked up three points from the match thanks to their first-innings lead. The visiting side got scores of 395 and 60/2.
Avesh Khan
At a lively wicket in Srinagar, Madhya Pradesh pacer Avesh Khan picked up six wickets as his team threw a big scare into defending champions Jammu and Kashmir in their Elite Group A game. When, after winning the toss and deciding to bowl first, J&K bowled out Madhya Pradesh for 196, it appeared they had started where they had left off in the previous season, but then 29-year-old Avesh had other ideas in mind. He took important wickets of Shubham Khajuria, Vanshaj Sharma and captain Paras Dogra as the hosts could only make 120 in their reply. If Madhya Pradesh had not batted as long as they did in their second innings — as they declared on 249/6 — they could have achieved an outright result. J&K were 88/7 in their second innings and survived a defeat. Avesh continued the good work with the wickets of Qamran Iqbal, Khajuria and Abdul Samad.
Umesh Yadav
The former India fast bowler didn’t disappoint his new team. Umesh Yadav moved to Punjab from Vidarbha ahead of the 2026-27 season and lived up to his billing. In their Elite Group B match against Assam at New Chandigarh, after Punjab put the visitors into bat, Yadav picked up 5/70 in the first innings as the opposition was bowled out for 373. Punjab came up with 478/6d in their reply. 38-year-old Yadav, who represented Vidarbha for 18 years, scalped two more in the second innings as the hosts got three points from the match based on their first-innings lead.