Bengal begin Ranji campaign against revamped Delhi

Bengal open their Ranji Trophy 2026-27 season against Delhi at the Bengal Cricket Academy in Kalyani on Sunday. The hosts will field their international pace trio of Mohammed Shami, Akash Deep and Mukesh Kumar in an attempt to make an impactful start to the campaign. Seasoned spinners Pradipta Pramanik and Aamir Gani, both making comebacks, complete the home attack.

Abhimanyu Easwaran leads a batting line-up that includes debutant Ankur Paul along with Sudip Gharami, Sudip Chatterjee, Abishek Porel and Sumanta Gupta. The side will miss veteran middle-order batter Anustup Majumdar, who has retired and switched to coaching. Delhi return under head coach Vijay Dahiya, who has set reaching the knockout stage as his first target.

Ayush Badoni captains a Delhi batting unit that features Yash Dhull, Anuj Rawat and last season's prolific scorers Sanat Sangwan and Ayush Doseja. Navdeep Saini leads the visitors' pace attack. Both teams will assess how the fresh pitch behaves amid occasional rainfall in recent days.