He remained not out and agonisingly close to a century.
The KKR all-rounder showcased his skills with both bat and ball in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy clash. This is a great sign for the Kolkata Knight Riders going into the IPL 2026, with Anukul Roy stepping up with match-winning performances.
Bowling first in the Karnataka vs Jharkhand clash, the 26-year-old scalped two wickets in three overs, while giving away just 13 runs. He took out Ravichandran Smaran and Krishnan Shrijith, both players with the ability to snatch away the game.
In the process, Karnataka were reduced to 157/9. Captain Mayank Agarwal was the top scorer with 37 runs. Sushant Mishra returned with three wickets, Saurabh Shekhar took two, while Vikash Singh and Bal Krishna also picked up a wicket each.
In the second innings, Vidyadhar Patil did significant damage with quick wickets of captain Ishan Kishan (15 off seven) and No.3 batter Kumar Kushagra (nine off six). Utkarsh Singh also lost his wicket to Vijaykumar Vyshak for a meagre four runs.
Anukul Roy, in at No.5, was batting with intent. Despite wickets falling down from the other end, he held the fort and faced maximum deliveries. Simply saying that he smashed 95 runs off 58 balls would be an understatement. He struck nine fours and five sixes in his unbeaten knock. But what he did and with the grace that he did, was commendable.
Coming out at 38/3 would not have been easy for the all-rounder. But he revived Jharkhand with a continuous flow of runs. Facing 58 balls meant almost batting for 10 overs, also showcasing his skills of anchoring the innings. Seven players departed for a duck, and the second-highest score from his team was 15. This further shows how Anukul Roy rose to the occasion and took his team across the finish line at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
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Talking from the point of view of franchises, we are in a tough decision-making period between the retention deadline and the IPL 2026 auction. However, the 2024 champions would be pleased with their calls so far.
KKR will enter the auction with a bigger purse of over INR 64 crore. A huge chunk of money comes from releasing their expensive recruit, Venkatesh Iyer. However, the Knight Riders would be happy to have opted to retain Anukul Roy instead.
The Jharkhand player offers a left-handed batting stance with a slow left-arm orthodox style of bowling. This match has proven his ability to bat in the middle order, a position which didn’t work well for Iyer last year. He has been underutilised by the Knight Riders so far, having played only 11 matches across four seasons.
Thus, this relieves the franchise from going for another Indian all-rounder in the IPL 2026 auction. Instead, they can shift their focus to other auction targets.
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