RohitBhandiye
PANAJI
Goa’sRanji Trophy campaign for 2026-27 season is almost over. The team haslost all its three matches it has played so far this season.
Ithas been an overall poor performance by Goa. Both its batting andbowling departments have failed to deliver. There has been absolutelyno consistency in the performance by Goan batters and bowlers. A fewof them were good in one match, but miserably failed in the other twogames.
Noneof Goa’s top-order batsmen - Suyash Prabhudessai, ShivendraBhujbal, Abhinav Tejrana, Snehal Kauthankar and Lalit Yadav showedany quality performance.
Insix innings, the scores of Suyash, Shivendra, Abhinav, Snehal andLalit were 100, 159, 144, 58 and 116 respectively.
Inbowling, it was a similar case with the bowlers failing to bowl outits opposition early.
Onlyyoung Yash Kasvankar impressed in the match against Uttar Pradeshwherein he picked up ten wickets, five wickets each in both theinnings. This was Kasvankar’s only second first-class match.
Beforestart of the season, much was expected from the Goan side. After all,former India international Dinesh Mongia was back as head coach ofGoa. When Mongia was Goa’s coach during 2024-25 season, Goa had wonthe Plate division (meant for lower-ranked teams) and qualified forElite Group.
Morover,the preparation before start of the season seemed pretty good. Goahad played a bilateral series in Oman which involved 2 T20 and 3 ODImatches against the Oman side, a team which had participated in the2026 T20 World Cup in India. Then Goa went to Bengaluru to play inthe KSCA Trophy to play three four-day games against Karnataka,Vidarbha and Gujarat. After that, the Goan side went to Pune to playtwo games against Maharashtra.
Butall those practice match preparations did not show the necessaryresults. In Ranji Trophy, when it mattered the most, Goa faltered.Goa’s losses against stronger opponents like Baroda, Uttar Pradeshand Vidarbha exposed the weakness of its side.
Goasuffered innings defeat against Baroda and Vidarbha wherein the teamlost by aninnings and 135 runs and an innings and 27 runs respectively.
AgainstUttar Pradesh, Goa could have easily won the match, but eventuallyended by losing by 68 runs.
InPlate group against weaker opponents, Goa performs very well. But, inElite group, against stronger opponents, the team struggles.
Goawill have to work really hard if its need to do well in its remainingfour games against Bihar (Nov 2-5), Puducherry (Jan 17-20), MadhyaPradesh (Jan 24-27) and Jammu & Kashmir (Feb 1-4).
Evenif Goa wins all its four remaining matches, it will be highlyunlikely that the team will finish among two in their Elite Group Aand qualify for the knock-out stage.
Sofar, it has been an forgettable Ranji season for Goa.
| Match Results Overview |
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| Match | Opponent | Venue | Result |
| Match 1 (Oct 11–14, 2026) | Baroda | Panjim Gymkhana Ground, Panaji | Lost by an innings and 135 runs |
| Match 2 (Oct 17–20, 2026) | Uttar Pradesh | Green Park Stadium, Kanpur | Lost by 68 runs |
| Match 3 (Oct 26–29, 2026) | Vidarbha | VCA Stadium, Jamtha, Nagpur | Lost by an innings and 27 runs |
| Elite Group A |
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| Team | Matches | Won | Lost | Draw | Points | Quotient |
| Vidarbha | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 1.821 |
| Baroda | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 2.197 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 1.869 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 2.36 |
| Jammu and Kashmir | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0.678 |
| Pondicherry | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0.579 |
| Goa | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.495 |
| Bihar | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.315 |
