Star India opener likely to represent Karnataka for the upcoming Ranji Trophy 2026

Several regular members of the Indian cricket team will take part in the upcoming Ranji Trophy, which begins this week. These players are not part of India’s T20 World Cup plans and have chosen to focus on domestic cricket until IPL 2026. Key names include Test captain Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, and Nitish Kumar Reddy. Rishabh Pant, however, is likely to miss this phase of the tournament after suffering an injury before the IND vs NZ ODI series.

KL Rahul will return to domestic red-ball cricket for Karnataka in the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2025–26 season. The right-handed batter will play Karnataka’s Group D match against Punjab, starting January 29 in Mullanpur.

As per a Times of India report, Rahul will not feature in Karnataka’s January 22 match against Madhya Pradesh in Alur but is expected to join the squad for the Punjab game. This move follows the BCCI’s push for senior players without international commitments to play domestic cricket.

The Punjab vs Karnataka match is drawing attention as Shubman Gill is also expected to play for Punjab. Gill has already joined the Punjab squad for their January 22 match against Saurashtra in Rajkot, which will also include all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. Gill earlier decided to spend more time in red-ball cricket after being left out of India’s T20 World Cup plans.

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Punjab’s Qualification Challenge

Punjab face a tough task in the Ranji Trophy. They need to win both of their remaining group matches to stay in the race for the knockout stage. Matches against strong teams like Saurashtra and Karnataka make their path difficult.

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Updates on Nitish Kumar Reddy, Jadeja and Pant

All-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy will continue to represent Andhra in their remaining group matches against Vidarbha and Nagaland. Andhra are placed second in Group A and have a strong chance of qualifying. Reddy is in good form after scoring a half-century in the recent ODI series against New Zealand and is seen as a backup option for Hardik Pandya in limited-overs cricket.

Ravindra Jadeja is set to return to action for Saurashtra in their January 22 match against Punjab. He last played in the ODI series against New Zealand, where he did not make much impact. His red-ball career remains safe, but he needs match practice ahead of the next Test series against Sri Lanka. In the 2025 Test season, Jadeja scored 764 runs and took 25 wickets in 10 matches.

India Test vice-captain Rishabh Pant is unlikely to feature in the Ranji Trophy. He was not named in Delhi’s squad for the match against Chhattisgarh and is expected to continue his recovery at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.