The 2025-26 Ranji Trophy group stage recently came to a close, as the quarter-final fixture list has been confirmed. The likes of Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Mumbai, Karnataka, Bengal, and Andhra progressed into the knockouts, while defending champions Vidarbha, failed to qualify despite losing only one match.
The quarter-finals of the competition are set to begin from February 6 onwards, with Jamshedpur, Indore, Kalyani, and Mumbai, set to play host to the matches. The semi-finals, on the other hand, will begin on February 15, while the final is scheduled to take place from February 24 onwards.
While there were several takeaways in terms of upcoming stars and established players dominating the group stage with their peformances, there were also some high-profile names that did not fare well at all. With almost all of those players armed with a lucrative contract in the Indian Premier League (IPL), it does not bode well for them, especially with the next edition only a couple of months away.
On that note, let us take a look at the five IPL stars who had forgettable performances in the Ranji Trophy 2025-26 group stage.
#1 Ayush Mhatre
India’s U-19 World Cup 2026 captain and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) prospect, Ayush Mhatre, is going through a massive lean patch at the minute. The initial signs of his poor form began during the Ranji Trophy group stage itself, where he scored only 85 runs in four innings at an average of 21.25.
He began the season with scores of 28 and 13 in the contest against Jammu and Kashmir. In his next and last outing in the group stage against Pondicherry, a month later, he scored only 35 on a flat surface where Mumbai put on 630-5, with five players scoring over the 50-run mark.
#2 Abishek Porel
The Delhi Capitals (DC) wicket-keeper is on the back of some decent white-ball performances for Bengal in the 2025-26 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) and the Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT). But prior to that, he had struggled in the Ranji Trophy, scoring only 84 runs in four innings at an average of 21.
Abishek Porel had featured in the first three matches for Bengal in the competition. While he scored a fifty against Gujarat, the rest of his outings were poor, which included the drawn clash against Tripura, where he was the captain. After the poor season, his first-class average reads 31.28, as he struggles to break the barrier and explode.
#3 Prabhsimran Singh
Punjab Kings’ (PBKS) first-choice opener, Prabhsimran Singh, struggled throughout the entire Ranji Trophy group stage to mark a forgettable campaign for the Punjab state side as well. Featuring in five matches for the team, the wicket-keeper batter scored only 166 runs at an average of 18.44.
He did not record a single fifty over the course of the season, and had a high score of 44, which he scored in Punjab’s recent loss to Saurashtra in Rajkot. In the team’s final match, he could not step up, and was dismissed for 5 and 11 in the first and second innings, respectively.
#4 Vijaykumar Vyshak
The right-arm pacer had a fairly successful run for Karnataka in the 2025-26 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) and the Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT). However, it has not been the same for him when it comes to red-ball cricket. In three outings for the team in the Ranji Trophy, Vyhsak took seven wickets at an average of 40.71.
The Punjab Kings (PBKS) ace presented the second-worst bowling average for Karnataka during the group stage. Among pacers, he has bowled the second-highest number of overs after spearhead Vidwath Kaverappa, but has failed to produce the goods in return.
#5 Ravindra Jadeja
The veteran all-rounder has featured for Saurashtra in two matches in the group stage, including their recent win over Punjab in Rajkot. However, he does not have much to show for in terms of contributions, after scoring only 89 runs in three innings at an average of 29.66 and taking three wickets at an atrocious average od 83.50.
He has the worst bowling average out of the entire Saurashtra squad, with the second-worst being a distant 58 by left-arm pacer Chetan Sakariya. The poor displays do not help Jadeja’s cause, who is already under pressure across formats in international cricket after a particularly poor end to 2025, and an equally dismal start to 2026.
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Edited by Gokul Nair
