Former Bihar captain Ashutosh Aman has been appointed the new head coach for Ranji Trophy 2026-27 with Ashok Kumar his assistant. They take over from Vinayak Samant and Kumar Mridul, respectively.
Sakibul Gani will lead the team once again, with Himanshu Singh his deputy. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who is part of India's T20I squads for the ongoing series against West Indies as well as for the New Zealand tour, is not in the 17-member squad selected by the BCCI-appointed selectors for the first two rounds.
Fast bowler Sakib Hussain, who impressed for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2026, will lead the pace attack. He took 15 wickets in 11 games at an average of 26.46 in his maiden IPL season. Uncapped left-arm quick Mohammed Izhar, who was with Mumbai Indians, is also part of the squad.
Squad picked by BCCI-appointed panel
Amid the upheaval in the Bihar Cricket Association, the Supreme Court appointed former Patna High Court judge Ashwani Kumar Singh as one of the administrators on September 16. Ashwani formed a committee with former Bihar captain Sunil Kumar, former player and coach Zishan-ul-Yaquin and former Bihar Women player Shikha Soni that will work closely with the board.
Ashwani also sought BCCI's assistance in selecting Bihar's squads. Subsequently, former India fast bowler Harvinder Singh, former Tamil Nadu player S Sharath and former Madhya Pradesh batter Amitabh Vijayvargiya selected the senior men's squad. Harvinder, former Gujarat wicketkeeper Pathik Patel and former Punjab cricketer Krishnan Mohan will select Bihar's age-group and women's teams.
Bihar are part of the Elite Group this season and will start their campaign against Uttar Pradesh on October 11 at the newly-built Rajgir International Cricket Stadium.
Bihar squad for the Ranji Trophy
Sakibul Gani (capt), Ayush Loharuka, Mangal Maharour, Naman Gaurav, Piyush Singh, Bipin Kumar Saurabh (wk), Shraman Nigrodh (wicketkeeper), Akash Raj, Prithvi Raj, Himanshu Singh (vice-capt), Khalid Alam, Suraj Kumar Kashyap, Sakib Hussain, Mohammad Izhar, Shabbir Khan, Raghavendra Singh, Amod Yadav
Standbys: Nawaz Khan, Malay Raj, Danish Alam, Tarun Kumar Singh, Sachin Kumar Singh, Prashant Kumar Singh