Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26: Jharkhand’s Kushagra enjoying his multitasking role

Multitasking doesn’t burden him, and the pressure of captaincy doesn’t curb his flamboyant batting style. The 21-year-old Kumar Kushagra is a modern cricketer who embraces pressure rather than letting it intimidate him.

Kushagra has been in red-hot form this season with the bat for Jharkhand in the Ranji Trophy and limited-overs cricket. He played an influential role in Jharkhand’s triumph in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) T20 tournament with 422 runs at a strike rate of 161.88.

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Kushagra has carried that rich vein of form into the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT) tournament, stroking a fine 105 against Pondicherry after his quick 63 against Karnataka in the tournament opener.

With Ishan Kishan’s availability limited to a few matches, Kushagra has also taken over the responsibility as the senior player and has astutely led the side.

“I enjoy responsibility. The association had sounded out to me that I would be captaining the side at various stages during this season. I was mentally prepared for it. Captaincy is about managing the players better, giving them confidence and making them perform to the desired level. Multitasking has become a norm in cricket these days, so it is not a big deal,’’ he said.

“Well, I had worked on my game during the off-season. Yes, it is challenging to switch between formats, but as a professional cricketer, you should be able to adjust and adapt. I practised a lot of range hitting with our coach, Ratan Kumar. The key to success in white-ball cricket is pacing the innings and changing your game according to the situation. So far, it has been a good season for me personally and for our team,’’ said Kushagra.

“The SMAT triumph was the coming of age of Jharkhand cricket. We had a few heroes in batting and bowling, and it was an all-round performance. We are not under any sort of pressure in the VHT tournament. We are taking it match by match and I am happy with how we are playing right now. I’m not thinking too much about the future, but definitely want to make a mark in IPL (Indian Premier League) in the coming season,’’ he added.

Published on Jan 01, 2026