Ranji Trophy semi-finals: What do the match-ups look like?
The 2025-26 Ranji Trophy semi-finals bring together a compelling mix of wide-eyed debutants and battle-hardened heavyweights. Uttarakhand and Jammu & Kashmir have scripted fairy-tale runs to make it this far for the first time. But while Uttarakhand entered the scene only in 2017-18, but for J&K, this moment has been in the making since 1958-59.
At the other end of the spectrum are eight-time champions Karnataka, who are chasing their first title since 2014-15, while Bengal are in pursuit of a third crown after being denied twice in the last five seasons - they were runners-up to Saurashtra both times (2019-20 and 2022-23).
The match-ups
No team secured more outright wins than Bengal's five during the league phase. They come into the semi-final on the back of a sixth - a win over Andhra that had Mumbai's khadoos stamp all over it, powered by an innings of 299 from opener Sudip Gharami, only the third batter in first-class history to be dismissed for that score.
Sumanta Gupta, who debuted in the 2022-23 final, is the only other batter besides Gharami to cross 500 runs this season. At 35, he's enjoying a second wind, forming the spine of the line-up with Sudip Chatterjee and Anustup Majumdar. The knockouts offer Abhimanyu Easwaran another chance to make a statement; he has four fifties this season, with a best of 83.
Bengal's strength lies in a seam attack of Mohammed Shami, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar and Akash Deep. Shami has played six games and taken 28 wickets, while left-arm spin allrounder Shahbaz Ahmed leads the tally with 39 scalps.
Their campaign began with a loss to Mumbai, but they surged to three wins in their next four games to place themselves well when the Ranji season paused for the white-ball leg. When the season resumed, weather disrupted their push for outright wins in their last two games, but their early run of wins and the inability of their competitors - most notably Chhattisgarh, Hyderabad and Rajasthan - meant they finished second behind Mumbai in the group.
For a second season running, seam bowler Auqib Nabi has been their best performer. He has now picked up an incredible 97 first-class wickets since the start of the 2024-25 Ranji season. And with 46 wickets he's the only seamer in the top five this season. This included a 12-for to orchestrate a stunning
Their batting line-up has been heavily reliant on veteran Paras Dogra and Abdul Samad, who have made 484 and 453 runs respectively. Shubham Khajuria, who made 190 early in the season against Chhattisgarh, has tailed off since - managing just 175 runs in his other 11 innings. All through, the team management has backed him. Now is the time to replay that faith.
After three-and-a-half days of slow-burn cricket against Punjab in their final league game, Karnataka were left chasing an improbable 250 in a maximum of 40 overs to stay alive. They had already conceded the lead, and with Saurashtra sealing an outright win over Chandigarh, nothing short of victory in fading light would do.
Enter Devdutt Padikkal. Elevated to the captaincy after a demoralising home defeat to Madhya Pradesh had pushed their campaign to the brink, he responded with a blistering 120 off 85 balls as Karnataka stormed home in just 28 overs. Mayank Agarwal, the man he replaced, set the tone with a counter-punching 53. In the quarter-final, KL Rahul then steered them through a wobble with a century, sealing their highest successful chase in Ranji history against arch-rivals Mumbai in Mumbai.
R Smaran and the returning Karun Nair are top two on their run charts, but Shreyas Gopal has been a massive point of difference, having contributed 442 runs, mostly in the lower-middle order, while also picking up 41 wickets.
With two group games left, any of Haryana, Railways and Services could have pipped Uttarakhand. But come the crunch moments, they found a number of senior players to step up. Most notably Mayank Mishra, the left-arm spinner who leads the season's wickets' chart with 52 wickets.
The surge came in their penultimate league fixture, where they made a tricky 224 target look like child's play, with Bhupen Lalwani, their Mumbai import, and Kunal Chandela hitting 100 not out and 83 not out respectively as they romped to a nine-wicket win.
Then in their final group game, Chandela, the captain, led from the front with a magnificent double-century to set up a win that piloted them into the quarter-finals, where they overcame the pedigreed Jharkhand, the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy champions. Mishra and Abhay Negi, the seamer, triggered a sensational collapse with Jharkhand losing 8 for 30.