Ranji Trophy: A case of so near and yet so far for a star-studded Karnataka team

Karnataka’s 2025-26 Ranji Trophy season at once feels like a success and not so.

If one considers the side’s precarious position in the last group-stage match versus Punjab when it nearly failed to qualify for the knockouts, a runner-up finish feels like a bonus.

But there is also a view that a full-strength, star-filled team replete with Test players should have fared better against a first-time finalist.

Regardless of how one sees it, the unvarnished truth is that there are no easy teams in the Ranji Trophy anymore, and pedigreed outfits — like eight-time champion Karnataka — cannot take anyone lightly.

Especially not someone like Jammu & Kashmir, which had recorded outright wins over five past Ranji champions in Delhi, Hyderabad, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Bengal.

The final laid bare two of Karnataka’s biggest lacunae — the lack of bite when lead spinner Shreyas Gopal has an off-day and the pace bowlers’ propensity to not be persistent.

Overall Shreyas had a fine season, with the 48 wickets his best-ever tally in a single edition and the 469 runs he made his third-best. But a bit more bowling support would have done Karnataka a world of good.

Left-arm spinner Shikhar Shetty played eight matches in his debut campaign and took 22 wickets but at an average of 42. Off-spinner Mohsin Khan featured in five and claimed 15 scalps, but six of those wickets came in one innings.

The encouraging fact, however, is that Shikhar is just 20 and Mohsin 22, and both appear very coachable bowlers. It will be a travesty if the land with a great history of spin allows them to drift.

In the pace-bowling department, it was not so much about quality but of methods. Prasidh Krishna, V. Vyshak, Vidwath Kaverappa and the fast-improving Vidyadhar Patil are capable men, but their failure to attack the stumps relentlessly proved their undoing.

“We need to probably show more discipline,” coach Yere Goud admitted. “If things are not going our way, can we control the runs? In the second innings [of J & K], we bowled that channel consistently. It’s a learning.”

The batting may have failed in the title-decider, but it was encouraging on the whole.

R. Smaran, 22, stood out with 950 chart-topping runs while Karun Nair made 699 and Mayank Agarwal 678. K.L. Rahul and Devdutt Padikkal scored 470 and 543 respectively and played match-winning knocks against Mumbai (quarterfinals) and Punjab.

The real test will be when newly appointed captain Padikkal and Rahul are called up for National duty and replacements have to be found.

There is no dearth of talent. But Karnataka’s future will be shaped by how well it is harnessed.