Best eradicated taking part in XI of Ranji Trophy 2025-26 group section ft. Ruturaj Gaikwad, Jalaj Saxena

The group stage of the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy went down to the wire before the best eight teams booked their place in the quarterfinal. The other 24 teams, which suffered a first-round elimination, still had plenty of positives to take away from an individual performance standpoint.

Elite groups aside, the six Plate group teams also had several players produce noteworthy performances. Group C and D had more decisive top-two finishes, with Bengal, Uttarakhand, Mumbai, and Jammu & Kashmir steamrolling the rest to advance to the knockouts.

Group A saw Viadrbha miss out on quarterfinal qualification heartbreakingly in a three-way tie with Jharkhand and Andhra. Similarly, Group A saw Saurashtra and Maharashtra miss out on a top-two finish by the slimmest of margins, with Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka taking top honors.

Nevertheless, the 24 teams missing out on the knockouts had batters and bowlers shining throughout the competition.

Here, we pick the best playing XI from the eliminated teams of the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy.

Openers: Sanat Sangwan, Aman Mokhade

Among the 24 eliminated teams from the Elite groups, Delhi had arguably the best individual performers, starting with opener Sanat Sangwan. Still relatively inexperienced at the domestic level, the southpaw finished as the second leading run-scorer with 828 runs at an average of 69, including three centuries, in seven outings.

Despite Sanat’s best efforts, Delhi remained winless, with six draws and a loss in their seven matches.

Vidarbha’s Aman Mokhade continued his impressive batting form in the Ranji Trophy after helping the side recently win the Vijay Hazare Trophy. The 25-year-old scored the fourth-most runs in the group stage with 760 runs at an average of 76, including three centuries, in seven outings.

Aman’s heroics led Vidarbha to an impressive 31 points as they missed out on quarterfinal qualification, thanks to a slightly lower net run-rate compared to the top two.

Middle Order: Abhinav Terjana, Ruturj Gaikwad, Ayush Doseja, Yash Rathod

It is not often that middle-order batters lead the run-scoring charts on Indian pitches. However, at No.3 and 5 come Abhinav Terjana and Ayush Dodeja, who finished in the top three for runs in the group stage.

The former was third, scoring 788 runs at an average of 71.63, including four centuries, in seven games. Terjana helped Goa avoid a bottom-two finish as they ended with 11 points and a lone win.

On the other hand, Doseja held Delhi’s middle-order together, leading all scorers with 949 runs at an incredible average of over 105. The left-hander scored four centuries and five half-centuries in his 12 innings, including a highest score of 209.

Between the duo comes Maharashtra’s model of consistency, Ruturaj Gaikwad, at No.4. Despite playing only five out of the seven games, the right-hander amassed over 400 runs at an average of 82 in seven innings.

Finally, Vidarbha’s Yash Rathod rounds off the middle-order, having scored 645 runs at a phenomenal average of 107.50. He scored at least 50 in six out of his eight innings, including three three-figure scores.

All-rounders: Manisankar Murasingh, Jalaj Saxena

Tripura pace-bowling all-rounder Manisankar Murasingh was among the few fast-bowlers who picked up wickets for fun in a tournament dominated by the spinners. The 33-year-old bagged 22 wickets in his seven matches at an impressive average of under 23, even as Tripura was unfortunately second to bottom on the Group C standings.

Manisankar also displayed his all-round prowess, scoring 255 runs at an average of over 25, including a century and a half-century.

The ever-reliable Jalaj Saxena was at his wily best in the pre-knockout round for Maharashtra. The 39-year-old all-rounder picked up 28 wickets at an average of under 25, including two 5-wicket hauls, in seven games. He also added 164 runs with the willow at an average of 32.80 in seven innings.

Bowlers: Arjun Sharma, Siddharth Desai, MD Nidheesh

Left-arm spinners dominated the first round of the Ranji Trophy, and the best of the eliminated teams were none other than Siddharth Desai and Arjun Sharma. The former led all bowlers with 45 wickets at an average of 18.42, including six innings of at least four wickets, in seven matches for Gujarat.

Sharma was just as impressive, finishing with the joint-fifth most wickets at 34 with an average of 17.08, including four 5-wicket hauls.

MD Nidheesh of Kerala was undeniably the best pacer from the eliminated teams, picking up 28 wickets at an average of 21.53, including three 5-wicket hauls, in seven outings.

Best eliminated playing XI of the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy group phase

Sanat Sangwan, Aman Mokhade, Abhinav Terjana, Ruturj Gaikwad, Ayush Doseja, Yash Rathod, Manisankar Murasingh, Jalaj Saxena, Arjun Sharma, Siddharth Desai, MD Nidheesh