The 28-year-old suffered the injury while attempting to stop a powerful drive from teammate M Shahrukh Khan during his follow-through in a first-division club match held last Sunday at the Guru Nanak College Ground in Chennai. The incident has temporarily sidelined the left-arm spinner
Sai Kishore (Photo: AFP)
Tamil Nadu captain and seasoned all-rounder R Sai Kishore is set to miss the upcoming Buchi Babu Memorial Trophy due to a hand injury but remains optimistic about regaining fitness ahead of the prestigious Duleep Trophy, which begins on August 28.
According to a report by ESPNcricinfo, the 28-year-old suffered the injury while attempting to stop a powerful drive from teammate M Shahrukh Khan during his follow-through in a first-division club match held last Sunday at the Guru Nanak College Ground in Chennai. The incident has temporarily sidelined the left-arm spinner, who has been named in the South Zone squad for the Duleep Trophy.
Kishore is expected to return to action when South Zone kick off their campaign on September 4 at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.
A key figure in Tamil Nadu’s red-ball setup, Sai Kishore boasts impressive first-class numbers. In 48 matches, he has claimed 203 wickets at an average of 23.57, including 13 five-wicket hauls and a ten-wicket match haul. His best bowling figures stand at 7/57. With the bat, he has contributed 816 runs at an average of 14.31, including three half-centuries, with a highest score of 81.
In Kishore’s absence, young batter Pradosh Ranjan Paul has been named captain of the TNCA President's XI for the Buchi Babu tournament, with left-arm pacer C Andre Siddarth serving as vice-captain.
Meanwhile, the second Tamil Nadu team, TNCA XI, will be led by hard-hitting batter M Shahrukh Khan. The Buchi Babu tournament, a key fixture in India’s domestic pre-season calendar, will feature 16 teams divided into four groups of four. Each team will face the others in their group in three-day matches. Group toppers will advance to the semifinals.
The knockout stage of the tournament will shift to a four-day format, with each innings capped at 90 overs, designed to mimic longer-format domestic competitions and prepare players for first-class challenges.
The Buchi Babu tournament has long served as a platform for identifying emerging talent and assessing form ahead of major domestic tournaments like the Duleep Trophy and the Ranji Trophy. While Sai Kishore’s absence will be felt, Tamil Nadu’s depth in leadership and talent will be tested as they look to build momentum ahead of the upcoming domestic season.
All eyes will now be on Pradosh Paul and Shahrukh Khan as they lead their respective squads, while fans and selectors alike await updates on Sai Kishore’s fitness ahead of South Zone’s Duleep Trophy campaign.
Group A - TNCA President's XI, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra
Group B - Railways, Jammu & Kashmir, Baroda, Odisha
Group C - TNCA XI, Mumbai, Haryana, Bengal
Group D - Hyderabad, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand
Buchi Babu 2025: Full squads and team lists
Maharashtra: Ankit Bawane (C), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prithvi Shaw, Siddhesh Veer, Sachin Dhas, Arshin Kulkarni, Harshal Kate, Siddharth Mhatre, Saurabh Nawale (wk), Mandar Bhandari (wk), Ramakrishna Ghosh, Mukesh Choudhary, Pradeep Dadhe, Vicky Ostwal, Hitesh Walunj, Prashant Solanki, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, as per Wisden.
Mumbai: Ayush Mhatre (C), Musheer Khan, Divyansh Saxena, Sarfaraz Khan, Suved Parker (vice-captain), Pragnesh Kanpillewar, Harsh Aghav, Sairaj Patil, Aakash Parkar, Aakash Anand (WK), Hardik Tamore (WK), Shreyas Gurav, Yash Dicholkar, Himanshu Singh, Roystan Dias, Sylvester D'souza, Irfan Umair
TNCA President's XI: Pradosh Ranjan Paul (C), C. Andre Siddarth C (Vice-capt.), B Indrajith, Vijay Shankar, R. Vimal Khumar, S Radhakrishnan, S Lokeshwar, G Ajitesh, J Hemchudeshan, R.S. Ambrish, CV Achyuth, H Trilok Nag, P Saravana Kumar, P. Vidyuth, K. Abhinav
TNCA XI: M Shahrukh Khan (C), Boopathi Vaishna Kumar (Vice-capt.), B. Sachin, M. Siddharth, Tushar Raheja, Kiran Karthikeyan, S. Mohamed Ali, S. Rithik Easwaran, S.R. Athish, S. Lakshay Jain, D.T. Chandrasekar, P. Vignesh, R. Sonu Yadav, D. Deepesh, J. Prem Kumar, A. Esakkimuthu, T.D. Lokesh Raj
Jammu and Kashmir: Qamran Iqbal, Vivrant Sharma, Paras Dogra, Yawer Hassan, Abdul Samad, Musaif Ajaz, Kawalpreet Singh, Shivansh Sharma, Abid Mushtaq, Dikshant Kundal, Umran Malik, Umar Nazir, Rohit Sharma, Vanshaj Sharma, Sunil Kumar, Sahil Lotra
Bengal: Sudip Gharami, Anustup Majumdar, Abishek Porel, Sumanta Gupta, Aditya Purohit, Saurabh Singh, Chinmoy Singh, Vishal Bhati, Aishik Patel, Karanlal, Vikash Singh (Jr), Aamir Gani, Rahul Prasad, Mukesh Kumar, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Ishan Porel, Yudhajit Guha, Nuruddin Mondal, Kanishk Seth, Sumit Mohanta, Subham Sarkar
Chhatisgarh: Amandeep Khare (C), Aditya Sarwate, Ashish Chouhan, Ashutosh Singh, Aunish Singh Dhaliwal, Ayush Pandey, Dev Aditya Singh, Harvinder Singh, Mayank Yadav, Rahul Pradhan (W.K), Ravi Kiran, Rishi Sharma, Sahban Khan, Sanjeet Desai, Shashank Chandrakar (W.K), Shashank Tiwari, Shubham Agarwal, Sourabh Majumdar, Varun Singh Bhuie
Odisha: Kartik Biswal, Sandeep Pattnaik, Sambit S Baral, Sumit Sharma, Anil Parida, Sunil Kumar Roul, Tapas Kumar Das, Saideep Mohapatra, Rajesh Dhupar (WK), Badal Biswal, Om T Munde, Tarini Sa, Subhranshu Senapati, Prasant K Rana, Binaya K. Paikaray (WK), Aashirwad Swain (WK), Ashutosh Chhuria, Swastik Samal, Govinda Poddar, Piyush Panigrahi
Madhya Pradesh: Chanchal Rathore (C), Aryan Tiwari, Shubham Kushwah, Akhil N Yadav, Saksham Purohit, Soham Patwardhan, Rudransh Singh, Atharv Mahajan, Varun Tiwari, Rohit Rajawat, Aditya Mishra, Vishnu Bharadwaj, Madhav Tiwari, Akshat Dwivedi, Akshay Sharma, Anvesh Chawla, Ishan Choudhary, Mangesh Yadav
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