Uttarakhand Cricket Team

The Uttarakhand cricket team represents the state of Uttarakhand in Indian domestic cricket, governed by the Cricket Association of Uttarakhand (CAU). Although Uttarakhand was formed as a state in 2000, its cricket development was hampered for years by administrative disputes between rival associations, which delayed the state's full recognition by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

The logjam broke following the Lodha Committee reforms, and in July 2018, the BCCI formally named Uttarakhand as one of nine new teams to join India's domestic cricket structure, granting it entry into the Ranji Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy, and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy from the 2018-19 season onward.

Led by experienced campaigner Rajat Bhatia as their first captain, Uttarakhand made an immediate impact in their debut 2018-19 season, remaining unbeaten across 15 matches in the lead up to their Ranji Trophy quarter final. In their opening Ranji fixture, they defeated Bihar by 10 wickets, and went on to win the Plate Group by beating Manipur, Meghalaya, and Arunachal Pradesh, before their campaign ended with a heavy quarter final defeat to Vidarbha by an innings and 115 runs.

In the same debut season, opening batter Karanveer (Karn) Kaushal announced himself with the first ever double century in Vijay Hazare Trophy history, scoring 202 runs against Sikkim, while finishing as the team's leading run scorer with 489 runs. Pace bowler Deepak Dhapola was the side's leading wicket taker in that campaign.

The Uttarakhand cricket team plays its home matches at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Dehradun, which has served as the team's primary venue since its Ranji Trophy debut. Despite early infrastructural limitations common to a newly recognised state team, the stadium has provided Uttarakhand cricket team with a stable home base to build its domestic programme around.

Since their debut, Uttarakhand have played 48 Ranji Trophy matches, winning 16 and losing 17 (as of November 2025), competing consistently in the Elite Group without yet winning a Ranji title.

In the Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (India's List A and T20 domestic tournaments), Uttarakhand have made steady progress in the group stages but are yet to advance beyond them in either competition.

• Kunal Chandela: Current captain of the Uttarakhand cricket team in first class cricket.
• Aditya Tare: Former Mumbai wicketkeeper batter who joined Uttarakhand and continues as the side's primary gloveman.
• Akash Madhwal: Pace bowling all rounder who became a household name after his match winning five wicket haul for Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2023 Eliminator.
• Deepak Dhapola: The team's leading fast bowler since its debut season, known for his consistent wicket taking form.
• Karanveer (Karn) Kaushal: Scored the first ever double century in Vijay Hazare Trophy history, for Uttarakhand against Sikkim in 2018.
• Rajat Bhatia: The team's first ever captain, who led their unbeaten run through the 2018-19 debut season.

Note: Rishabh Pant, India's star wicketkeeper batter, hails from Roorkee in Uttarakhand but plays his domestic first-class cricket for Delhi, not the Uttarakhand state team.

Uttarakhand's squad composition varies slightly across formats, blending home grown talent with experienced players who have joined from other state associations. As of the 2025-26 domestic season, the squad includes:

• Batters: Kunal Chandela, Saurabh Rawat (wk), Abhay Negi, Kamal Singh, Sanskar Rawat, Aarav Mahajan, Aanjaneya Suryavanshi, Harshit Paliwal, Devendra Singh Bora, Nikhil Harsh, Naveen Kumar Singh, Priyanshu Barswal, Harsh Rana
• All Rounders & Wicketkeepers: Aditya Tare (wk), Ravikumar Samarth, Karanveer (Karn) Kaushal
• Bowlers: Akash Madhwal, Deepak Dhapola, Jagadeesha Suchith, Jagmohan Nagarkoti, Aryan Garg, Vaibhav Bhatt, Swapnil Singh, Mayank Mishra

The squad is picked separately for each domestic competition the Ranji Trophy (first-class), Vijay Hazare Trophy (List A), and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (T20) so the final XI and squad combinations can shift slightly from one tournament to the next based on player form, workload management, and format specific team balance.

Note: Domestic squads are updated by the Cricket Association of Uttarakhand ahead of each tournament; the list above reflects the most recently announced squads across formats and may be revised for future series.

Kunal Chandela currently captains Uttarakhand in first class (Ranji Trophy) cricket, having led the side through its recent Elite Group campaigns. In List A cricket (Vijay Hazare Trophy), the captaincy has been held by Ravikumar Samarth in recent seasons, reflecting how Indian domestic teams often split leadership duties across formats based on a player's specific role and availability.

Uttarakhand's first ever captain was Rajat Bhatia, the experienced all rounder who led the side through its unbeaten 2018-19 debut season. Since then, the armband has passed through several hands, including Jiwanjot Singh, who captained the side in first class cricket during the 2023-24 season, and Akash Madhwal, who has led the team in List A and T20 cricket in past seasons alongside his bowling duties.

Uttarakhand's current head coach is Manish Jha, who oversees both the men's and women's senior teams for the Cricket Association of Uttarakhand. Jha previously combined this role with mentoring franchise sides in the Uttarakhand Premier League, and has also worked as a consultant coach for Nepal's women's team.

The head coach's position has seen frequent change since the team's 2018 formation, a reflection of the broader administrative churn that has affected Uttarakhand cricket in its early years. Previous head coaches have included KP Bhaskar (2019), Gursharan Singh (2020), and former India opener Wasim Jaffer (2021), whose brief and controversial tenure is detailed further below.

The Uttarakhand women's cricket team represents the state in the Senior Women's One Day Trophy and the Senior Women's T20 Trophy, India's premier domestic competitions for women's cricket. Like the men's side, the women's team was formed in 2018 following Uttarakhand's BCCI recognition, and plays its home matches at the same Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Dehradun.

The team is captained by Ekta Bisht, the left arm orthodox spinner and Uttarakhand's first ever international woman cricketer, who returned to lead her home state after spells representing Uttar Pradesh and Railways in domestic cricket. The women's team, like the men's side, is coached by Manish Jha, and made its List A debut against Bihar in Cuttack in December 2018, followed by its T20 debut against Tripura in Agartala in February 2019. As with the men's team, the women's side is yet to win a title in either the One Day or T20 Trophy, but continues to build its domestic programme around experienced campaigners like Bisht.

In February 2021, former India opener Wasim Jaffer resigned as Uttarakhand's head coach, just days before the Vijay Hazare Trophy, citing interference and bias from CAU selectors and its secretary, Mahim Verma, in team selection matters. Verma rejected the allegations, stating Jaffer had been given the resources and staff he requested, but that the association's selectors were unhappy with his insistence on picking his own preferred XI after a disappointing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy campaign.

The episode escalated when Uttarakhand's team manager reportedly alleged that Jaffer had shown communal bias in team matters, including changing the team's rallying slogan. Jaffer strongly denied these allegations in a public statement, explaining that he had suggested a religiously neutral, state focused slogan ("Go Uttarakhand") given the team's mixed faith composition a practice he said he had adopted from his time with Vidarbha. CAU's CEO later confirmed no formal complaint had been officially lodged against him, and prominent former India cricketers publicly backed Jaffer following the incident. Jaffer was the third Uttarakhand coach to resign in a short span, following KP Bhaskar (2019) and Gursharan Singh (2020).

As one of Indian cricket's newer state teams, Uttarakhand's journey reflects both the promise and growing pains of a young domestic side.

It represents:

• One of nine new state teams admitted to BCCI's domestic structure in 2018, following years of administrative deadlock
• A side that has produced a Vijay Hazare double centurion and an IPL winning bowler within its first decade
• A team still searching for its first major domestic title, but showing gradual, sustained improvement across formats

With a growing crop of domestic performers and a stable home base in Dehradun, Uttarakhand cricket team continues to build toward the day it can challenge India's more established domestic powerhouses for silverware.

Cricket's growing popularity is part of Uttarakhand's wider sporting culture, where several other disciplines continue to gain recognition. Explore more about the popular sports in Uttarakhand and the state's evolving sports landscape.