Domestic cricket offers a big opportunity for players to get themselves in form before every season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Even though there is a format difference between the IPL and the Ranji Trophy, the long grind across different stadia offers players to get used to different surfaces and conditions. Most importantly, the premier four-day tournament contributes to a player’s form and confidence which they can carry into the IPL.
Kolkata Knight Riders have made the decision to ‘keep their core’ for IPL 2025 by retaining the likes of Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy and Ramandeep Singh among domestic talents.
While a big chunk took part in the first half of the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 season, the return of international players to the state teams left few of the KKR squad members without game time in the Round 6 matches from January 23-26.
The likes of Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana and Rinku Singh didn’t feature due to international commitments, Umran Malik, Luvnith Sisodia, Manish Pandey and Angkrish Raghuvanshi didn’t find a place in their team’s playing XI.
We take a look at how the others have performed for their state sides.
The left-hander who is the top priority for KKR this season resumed his Ranji Trophy campaign in fine fashion for Madhya Pradesh. In the Round 6 clash against Kerala in Thiruvananthapuram, he scored 42 in the first innings which contributed MP’s small total of 160. Kerala took a tiny 7-run lead, but MP put up a target of 363 thanks to a contribution of 80 not out from Iyer. The southpaw smashed six sixes and two boundaries to set up a tricky chase for the home team, who played it out safe with a draw. MP are no longer part of the quarterfinals race, but Iyer’s form is a good sign for KKR.
| Player | Team | Performances |
| Venkatesh Iyer | Madhya Pradesh | 42 & 80* |
| Ajinkya Rahane | Mumbai | 12 & 16 |
| Anukul Roy | Jharkhand | 1, 1/53 & 0/42 |
| Ramandeep Singh | Punjab | 16 & 0 |
| Maryank Markande | Punjab | 3-53, 12 & 27 |
| Vaibhav Arora | Himachal Pradesh | 0/89, 3 & 32 |
The Mumbai captain hasn’t been in the best of form in the red-ball cricket this season. Rahane has an average of 25 after nine innings in the Ranji Trophy having scored 202 runs with a highest score of 48 not out. It’s a far cry from his form in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy which helped Mumbai clinch the title. He got out for scores of 12 and 16 in the latest defeat against Jammu and Kashmir. Rahane couldn’t contribute in both innings when Mumbai needed a saviour in the top order. However, they are still in contention for the knockout rounds, so he will hope to improve if that happens.
The Jharkhand allrounder had a lukewarm outing in the latest Ranji Trophy match against Chhattisgarh as he returned with one wicket and one run. The 26-year-old played a supporting role in the bowling attack with 1-53 from his 16 overs in the first innings and returned 0-42 from 11 overs in the second innings. Jharkhand managed to win the game by eight wickets and had an outside chance to reach the quarters. But Roy didn’t do much in the latest win.
The middle-order batter had a terrible outing in Punjab’s round 6 loss against Karnataka. He was the top-scorer for his side in the first innings but it was only 16 runs and he was much worse in the second innings with a four-ball duck. His contributions for Punjab were in line with many others in the team as they slumped to a defeat by an innings and 203 runs.
The Himachal Pradesh pacer was barely at his best in the latest Ranji Trophy clash against Hyderabad as he got to bowl in first innings only and went wicketless while conceding 89 runs. In Himachal’s reply to Hyderabad’s massive 565, Arora made 3 in the first innings and 32 in the second innings but it wasn’t enough to escape a loss by an innings and 43 runs.
Markande captained Punjab in the first half of the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 and played a key role with good allround performances. In the latest defeat in the round 6 against Karnataka, the legspinner managed to put up a late resistance in their first innings collapse by facing 42 balls for his 12 runs.
He managed to get the key wickets of Abhinav Manohar and Shrijith Krishnan in his 3-53. But Markande’s efforts with the ball or his partnership of 63 for the seventh wicket with captain Shubman Gill in the second innings could help Punjab salvage a draw.
For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram, and YouTube.
