In an East Zone side that has superstars like Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan and Mohammed Shami, Shikhar Mohan has made a silent, but strong impression - both with bat and ball. During the start of the Duleep Trophy, Mohan, 21, wasn't a first-choice player for East, but after replacing his Jharkhand senior Virat Singh for the final at Chepauk, he pulled off double-duty.
Apart from scoring twin fifties on Duleep Trophy debut, Mohan wheeled away for 20 overs with his part-time left-arm fingerspin, taking the wickets of opening batter N Jagadeesan and CV Milind on a Chepauk pitch that offered scant assistance to any sort of bowling. Mohan filled in admirably for Anukul Roy, who didn't take the field on the last three days of the final after suffering a finger injury.
Mohan has been making waves in Indian domestic cricket for the past few seasons. After scoring heavily at the Under-23 level for Jharkhand, he made a fairly seamless transition into the Ranji Trophy in 2025-26. He emerged as Jharkhand's highest run-getter in his first Ranji season, tallying 613 runs in 12 innings at an average of 55.72. He was also Jharkhand's highest run-getter in the 50-overs Vijay Hazare Trophy. Though he wasn't part of Jharkhand's title-winning Syed Mushtaq Ali team last season, he showed his T20 chops in their state-run league more recently, emerging as the top run-getter for Ranchi Titans.
"I think the journey has been great," Mohan said on Sunday. "My first Ranji Trophy season went really well. So, the plan for this match was simply to carry forward that form from the Ranji Trophy and maintain the momentum."
Mohan received news of his Duleep debut on the eve of the game, but there was no place at the top, where he usually bats for Jharkhand. He slotted in at No.3 and countered the offspin of Tripurana Vijay and the legspin of Shreyas Gopal across both innings.
Mohan was fully forward or right back to the ball, driving and punching them through the covers. He also backed away from the stumps and stepped out of the crease to create scoring opportunities. The sweep is also among the shots in his repertoire.
"If the ball was in my zone, I decided to go for it," Mohan said. "Ishan [Kishan] bhaiyya was mainly guiding me on which options to avoid on this surface. He [Vijay] was tossing the ball up quite full, so I just looked to capitalise on the flight and score runs off it."
After sliding down the order in East's first innings, Mohan had to contend with a more unfamiliar role with the ball. Before the Duleep final, he had bowled just 14 overs across four first-class innings for zero wickets. With Roy out injured, Mohan fronted up to bowl multiple spells in Chennai's sweltering heat and used overspin to have Jagadeesan waft a catch to point on day three. Then, on day four, he got one to turn into Milind from outside off and drew a bat-pad catch to short leg.
Two wickets. Twin fifties. One hand on the Duleep Trophy. It has been quite the week for Jharkhand's star in the making.
His captain Kishan wants more from him because he sees a lot of potential in Mohan. "He is a young player making his debut here," Kishan said of Mohan. "He plays Ranji, but a Duleep Trophy final is a massive platform - there are cameras, media, selectors watching, and everyone's eyes are on you, so the pressure is real. If you are well set in the middle and batting fluently, why not score a hundred in these big games?
"I was trying to drum into him that scoring big is a habit: when you're set, go on and get a big score, so you don't look back with regret. He didn't listen - maybe he will next time. But fair enough, we didn't always listen either when we were younger (laughs)."