Success in recent years in Indian domestic cricket has been weighed by a player’s IPL salary. After all, it is the IPL that not only rakes in the moolah, but also brings sponsorships, features in podcasts, and a greater chance to stake a claim on a spot in the Indian side. However, for the last two years, teams with nearly no IPL stars have been the giant slayers in domestic cricket. Last year it was Kerala and this year it is J&K.
J&K’s 2025-26 season could easily be termed as the Davids of IPL salaries. Forget Davids, it could be called the Lilliput of IPL salaries killing the aura of Indian domestic cricket’s superstars of the richest cricket league in the world, drawing salaries in crores.
Here’s how the boys from J&K, featuring only two IPL 2025 players in Abdul Samad and Yudhvir Singh Charak, got the better of a whole bandwagon of IPL superstars.
Beating Delhi at their turf
Delhi’s domestic side is filled with players who have represented many teams in the IPL. In fact, the Delhi squad selected to play in the Ranji Trophy had a total of five players with an IPL contract. They ended up losing the game by seven wickets to J&K. The IPL stars in Delhi’s squad included Priyansh Arya, Ayush Badoni, Nitish Rana, and Simarjeet Singh, whose combined salary totaled Rs 14.3 crore.
Breezing past Rajasthan and Hyderabad
While winning away at Delhi was a challenge, what they did to Rajasthan and Hyderabad in Srinagar and Jammu was just brutal. They breezed past not just two teams, but IPL salaries worth Rs 53.5 crore. While Hyderabad’s Ranji Trophy 2025-26 squad featured Tilak Varma and Mohammed Siraj as IPL superstars, Rajasthan had a full batch featuring Deepak Hooda, Deepak Chahar, Rahul Chahar, Kunaal Singh Rathore, Khaleel Ahmed, and Ashok Sharma.
Rajasthan were humiliated by an innings and 41 runs. Hyderabad, on the other hand, tasted defeat by 281 runs.
Toppling the big guns Bengal and Madhya Pradesh
Though Delhi, Hyderabad, and Rajasthan domestic teams are filled with IPL stars, they are not always considered the heavyweight teams because of their inability to win titles in recent years. But J&K didn’t just beat them; they also toppled the heavyweights. They stood toe-to-toe with 42-time winners Mumbai, featuring Shivam Dube (Rs 12 Cr), Tushar Deshpande (Rs 6.5 Cr), and Shardul Thakur (Rs 3 Cr), in a Srinagar thriller that proved the mountain men belonged at the top.
Against MP in the quarterfinal and Bengal in the semi-final, the Paras Dogra-led side brought out their best to comeback from behind and win games in an unexpected manner. Against MP, boasting of players with a combined IPL price of Rs 37.5 crore, J&K were bowled out for 194 in the first innings. They made a comeback and bowled the opposition out for only 152. Defending 291 to win, the boys from J&K knocked the former champions out by 56 runs.
The impossible semi-final
If comebacks are a story, J&K would be the hero in the context of the Ranji Trophy 2025-26. They made yet another comeback in the semi-final against a Bengal side featuring IPL stars Mohammed Shami (Rs 10 Cr), Akash Deep (Rs 8 Cr), Mukesh Kumar (Rs 8 Cr), Abishek Porel (Rs 4 Cr), and Shahbaz Ahmed (Rs 2.4 Cr).
Trailing by 26 runs in the first innings, the men from the mountains had only one option to reach their dream: an outright win. Only four teams in history had ever won a Ranji semi-final after conceding a first-innings lead. But the boys from J&K did the unthinkable, bowling out Bengal for 99 on a Day 3 pitch in Kalyani. Auqib Nabi and Sunil Kumar picked four wickets each, while Yudhvir had two. Abdul Samad played his part with a fearless 82-ball 85 to seal the final berth.
Table showing J&K’s path to the Ranji final by defeating teams with a combined IPL value of Rs 125 crore
| Opponent | The “Billionaire” Squad Stars (IPL 2025) | Opponent IPL Players’ Price | Result |
| MP (QF) | Venkatesh Iyer (Rs 23.75 Cr), Rajat Patidar (Rs 11 Cr), Arshad Khan (Rs 1.3 Cr), Kuldeep Sen (Rs 80 L), Shubham Sharma (Rs 30 L) | Rs 37.15 Crore | WON |
| Bengal (SF) | Mohammed Shami (Rs 10 Cr), Akash Deep (Rs 8 Cr), Mukesh Kumar (Rs 8 Cr), Abishek Porel (Rs 4 Cr), Shahbaz Ahmed (Rs 2.4 Cr) | Rs 32.40 Crore | WON |
| Hyderabad | Mohammed Siraj (Rs 12.25 Cr), Tilak Varma (Rs 8 Cr) | Rs 20.25 Crore | WON |
| Mumbai | Shivam Dube (Rs 12 Cr), Tushar Deshpande (Rs 6.5 Cr), Shardul Thakur (Rs 3 Cr), Ajinkya Rahane (Rs 1.5 Cr), Musheer Khan (Rs 30 L), Shams Mulani (Rs 20 L) | Rs 23.50 Crore | LOST in a thriller |
| Rajasthan | Deepak Chahar (Rs 9.25 Cr), Khaleel Ahmed (Rs 4.8 Cr), Rahul Chahar (Rs 3.2 Cr), Deepak Hooda (Rs 1.7 Cr), Mahipal Lomror (Rs 1.7 Cr), Kunal Rathore (Rs 30 L) | Rs 21.20 Crore | WON |
| Delhi | Nitish Rana (Rs 4.2 Cr), Priyansh Arya (Rs 3.8 Cr), Ayush Badoni (Rs 4 Cr), Simarjeet Singh (Rs 1.5 Cr), Yash Dhull (Rs 50 L) | Rs 14.00 Crore | WON |
| GRAND TOTAL | Total IPL 2025 Market Value Defeated by J&K | Rs 148.5 Crore | FINAL |
The final Himalayan task
Heading into the final at Hubballi on February 24, J&K stands as the ultimate giant-killer, having effectively neutralized nearly Rs 150 crore in opposing IPL salaries. But the mountain side will have one more Himalayan task: beating 7-time champions Karnataka. The final hurdle features IPL stars like KL Rahul (Rs 14 Cr), Prasidh Krishna (Rs 9.5 Cr), Mayank Agarwal (Rs 1 Cr), and Karun Nair (Rs 50 L), with a total squad market cap exceeding Rs 30 crore. The boys from Jammu and Kashmir definitely know how to climb mountains, and they are one peak away from history.