Rishabh Pant to lead Rest of India in Irani Cup clash with J&K

Rishabh Pant, who failed to make the cut for the ODI series against West Indies, will lead Rest of India in the Irani Cup match against 2025-26 Ranji Trophy champions Jammu & Kashmir. Pant's deputy has been named Sarfaraz Khan.

Subject to fitness, Akash Deep, who has been out of action for a long time with a stress injury to his lower back, is expected to play in the Irani Cup. Incidentally, the last match Akash Deep played was against Jammu & Kashmir, in the Ranji Trophy in February 2026.

Mukesh Kumar, Mukesh Choudhary, and Aryan Pandey are among the pacers in the team, and Anukul Roy, Manav Suthar, and Saransh Jain, who both recently played in the Test series against Sri Lanka, join the spin department. R Smaran and Ayush Doseja, who were the top two run scorers in the previous Ranji Trophy, are also in the Rest of India squad.

The match between J&K and RoI will take place at the Sher-i-Kashmir stadium in Srinagar from October 1 to 5.

Rest of India squad: Rishabh Pant [c&wk], Sanat Sangwan, Shikhar Mohan, Sudip Gharami, Sarfaraz Khan [vc], Smaran Ravichandran, Manav Suthar, Saransh Jain, Akash Deep*, Mukesh Kumar, Mukesh Choudhary, Aryan Juyal [wk], Aryan Pandey, Anukul Roy, Ayush Doseja.

*Subject to fitness