India's 2026-27 domestic season kicks off with the Duleep Trophy in Bengaluru from Sunday.
The tournament has undergone several changes over the years, but will stick to its traditional inter-zonal format for a second season running after a four-team structure in 2024-25 failed to create the same sense of competitiveness or context.
With India's path to next year's World Test Championship final set to take clearer shape over the coming months, and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at home in January-February likely to be massively crucial, the Duleep Trophy, followed by the Irani Cup and the Ranji Trophy, will be closely watched. This broader context adds a layer of intrigue around a tournament that will feature several individual storylines of its own.
Sooryavanshi's red-ball test
Having enjoyed a breakout IPL that earned him a T20I cap in England this June, the 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's aptitude in red-ball cricket will be tested when he turns out for East Zone. His numbers offer some cause for scrutiny: an average of 17.25 in 12 innings across three stints in the Ranji Trophy's Plate League, interrupted by India Under-19 commitments. The Duleep Trophy offers him a chance to show that those returns were an anomaly.
Since returning from playing the T20I series in Zimbabwe, where Sooryavanshi was the Player of the Series for his two half-centuries in three innings, he has spent two weeks at a red-ball bootcamp at Rajasthan Royals' high-performance facility in Talegaon under Vikram Rathour's supervision.
"The camp combined technical skill development, strength and conditioning, workload management, recovery and performance analysis through individually-tailored training programmes," a Royals official said.
Sooryavanshi's one-time coach Manish Ojha also assisted in his preparation at the camp. Surfaces offering varying degrees of turn in Vidarbha's harsh summer and dryness were laid out for Sooryavanshi to hone his game against spin. Simulations were also held on red-soil decks to aid his back-foot play against bounce.
He will have a chance to put all that work to practice when he opens his campaign against an opposition that isn't the toughest - North East Zone - in the opening game. If East, led by Ishan Kishan, get past that, their challenges will get tougher. At the very least, Sooryavanshi could get two red-ball games over the next fortnight.
J&K: Outliers to main men
Historically, Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) players have found it hard to break into the North Zone set-up, which has mostly been dominated by players from Delhi, Punjab and Haryana. However, J&K's historic maiden Ranji Trophy triumph this March, fuelled by Auqib Nabi's heroics, has meant they have as many as six representatives, including the captain Kanhaiya Wadhawan, this time around.
Among them is also opener Qamran Iqbal, who wasn't even part of the J&K squad until a late call-up on the morning of the Ranji final against Karnataka following an injury to Shubham Khajuria turned things around. An unbeaten 160 in the second innings staved off Karnataka's late victory push. Once Yashasvi Jaiswal's opening partner in the India Under-19 team, Iqbal will potentially team up with Delhi's Sanat Sangwan at the top of the order for North Zone.
The fast-bowling attack too has a distinct J&K flavour to it. While North Zone selectors will wait for India's ongoing Test series against Sri Lanka to finish before taking a call on Nabi, they currently have left-arm seamer Sunil Kumar and the tall fast bowler Yudhvir Singh in the mix. Sunil picked up 31 wickets in nine Ranji Trophy fixtures, including a four-for that skittled Bengal in the semi-final.
The past and the present
He is 35, and has battled knee and ankle injuries of varying magnitudes in recent times, but Mohammed Shami isn't ready to throw in the towel just yet. He last played a Test in 2023, and has barely been in the selection conversation since. But the competitor in him refuses to relent.
Shami charged through the 2025-26 Ranji season, taking 37 wickets in seven games, and has spoken at various points over the past year about channelling the disappointment of being out of the India mix into staying ready. A strong Duleep Trophy could keep alive the prospect of an unlikely recall, particularly with injuries ruling out a number of fast bowlers for India.
For Arshdeep Singh, the Duleep Trophy offers a chance to strengthen his red-ball credentials. He was a key member of North Zone last year, but has largely been restricted to white-ball cricket for India. Arshdeep's ability to exploit movement could make him a valuable option in swinging conditions, and a strong show could keep him firmly on the selectors' radar, with India's tour of New Zealand coming up in October-November.
The same applies to Nabi, who has taken 104 wickets across the last two Ranji seasons. If North Zone progress to the semi-finals and beyond, he could join them after the Sri Lanka tour, giving him another opportunity to push his case for the New Zealand tour.
India's future-ready batting
R Smaran is knocking on the doors of India A after topping the 2025-26 Ranji run charts with 950 runs. At 23, his consistency and maturity have already led many to earmark him as a future Karnataka captain.
For Prithvi Shaw, who hasn't come close to India selection since the 2020-21 Test tour of Australia, the Duleep Trophy is another chance to build on the gains of last season. Having battled fitness and disciplinary issues, Shaw returned to form with Maharashtra, and showed that his batting tempo remains undiminished - he smashed a 156-ball 222, the third-fastest double-century in Ranji Trophy history, against Chandigarh.
Sarfaraz Khan, meanwhile, has found his way back into the Test squad after two years, and will be looking to make a stronger case for regular opportunities when he joins West Zone for the semi-finals after the Sri Lanka tour. With five Tests against Australia looming early next year, his ability against spin, seemingly his stronger suit, will be closely watched.