The Indian cricket fan's wishlist for 2026

If only wishes were horses. After honouring his commitment to the Barmy Army and England cricket fans and gifting them with a two-day win in Melbourne in the fourth Test to make the Ashes appear a bit more competitive, dear old Santa travelled to India, sneaked into the room of a diehard Indian cricket fan and on New Year's Day, asked him to make a fan wishlist for Indian cricket for 2026. Here's what Santa found...

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1. Since it's all about the fan, can we be a bit selfish? Can you please tell the BCCI that, after the players, we are the biggest stakeholders and that if we don't watch the games on TV or throng the stadiums, the product they show and advertise looks really bad? So, can you please tell them to provide us with cleaner toilets when we come to the stadiums and access to clean drinking water — either free or at a reasonable price? Oh, we hope we are not asking for too much.




2. We really care about Indian cricket and how it is represented globally. Can we ask for a single person in charge to run the game, rather than honorary administrators who try to do an honest job but, because of the nature of the role, often face no accountability when things go wrong?

3. Can we have luminaries without agendas as director of cricket or CEO and give them the freedom to run the show? Let them plan the ‘A' tours, run camps for junior and senior players before major home or away series, decide on player workloads and have the power to pull players out of lucrative franchise leagues to keep them fresh for important red-ball assignments. Doesn't Indian cricket deserve that level of efficiency and accountability? Doesn't the Test cricket fan deserve to see the game played in six or seven fixed venues that have a history of watching and appreciating the nuances of Test cricket? Also, can we please say goodbye to Test-match pitches where wickets and wins are delivered faster than quick-commerce apps deliver our goods?

4. We know leaks in bathrooms and water tanks often result in discoloured walls and damaged foundations. Please tell players, coaches and the administrators, of course, to avoid leaking information to select media outlets just to level scores with people they do not like. The past year saw too many dressing-room rumblings, with the head coach and the players taking veiled potshots at each other through the media.

5. Can we see more players being rewarded for performances in domestic cricket? The likes of Abhimanyu Easwaran and Sarfaraz Khan, despite toiling away earnestly in the domestic circuit, haven't been rewarded with steady international opportunities. A first step has been taken with the selectors rewarding Ishan Kishan's success in domestic cricket with a recall for the T20 World Cup. Now can we see some fresh faces for the Sri Lanka Test series in August? As great as the Indian men's team was in T20Is, we as fans still care about red-ball cricket. Ask any of us what our favourite moment of 2025 was and, apart from Harmanpreet Kaur's leap in the air at cover to dismiss Nadine de Klerk off Deepti Sharma that sealed the women's ODI World Cup final for India, it would be Mohammed Siraj uprooting Gus Atkinson's off stump at the Oval. That wicket resulted in a thrilling six-run win as India levelled the series 2-2 in England. We thought that would signal the start of a red-ball renaissance after a disappointing 2024, but what unfolded against South Africa at home was nothing less than a horror show.

6. While we're at it, can we ask for a proper No. 3 batter instead of players who are not yet ready for the big stage being handed that position on the basis of success in white-ball cricket? After all, many of Indian cricket's greats have batted in that position.

7. Can you quietly whisper in Indian T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav's ear that he is allowed to hit the ball on the off side, too, and that he has a range of stunning strokes, not just the pick-up shot in the arc between mid-wicket and long leg? Also, can you ask him if all is okay with his right wrist? And if not, can you provide him with a magic potion that heals it quickly and allows him to play the T20 World Cup without any problems? A lot of people's jobs could be on the line if India do not win that tournament, Surya included. And the Indian team cannot carry passengers in the top four in a competitive multi-nation tournament.

8. Since head coach Gautam Gambhir made a passionate plea about people needing to “stay in their domain” — and not comment on whether India would benefit by splitting the coaching role for redball and white-ball formats — can you tell him to tell the players too to stay in their domain and not make emotional speeches in press conferences or prize distribution ceremonies about patriotism and nationalism? Especially before the team plays Pakistan in Colombo on Feb 15? After all, fans don't care whether a player is looking at politics as a post-retirement career option!

9. Can we ask you to tell all cricket lovers not to be as angry and toxic on social media, and not run trends and hashtags to make ‘Player Ro' appear bigger or greater than ‘Player Ko'?

10. Santa, we know we have already gone overboard with our demands, but if it is not too much of a bother, can you also locate the Asia Cup trophy that we won last Sept in Dubai? It would be great if we could have it before the 50-over version comes around next year. That just about does it.

Thank you. Happy New Year.

INDIAN CRICKET: 2025'S UNIQUE NUMBERS

• 1 - Deepti Sharma (58 & 5/39) became the first allrounder to accomplish the double of posting a fifty and bag a five-wicket haul in a World Cup game, achieving the feat in the final vs SA Women at DY Patil Stadium on Nov 2.
• 21y 278d - Shafali Verma (87; 2/36 and one catch) became the youngest in cricket history to be adjudged player of the match in an ODI World Cup final on Nov 2.
• 14y 250d - Suryavanshi became the youngest to record a hundred in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Bihar vs Maharashtra in Kolkata on Dec 2.
• 1 - The Kolkata Test between India (189 & 93) and South Africa (159 & 153), contested between Nov 14-16, was the first-ever played on Indian soil with sub-200 all-out totals in all 4 innings.
• 59 Balls taken by Suryavanshi to race to his 150 during his innings of 190 off 84 balls for Bihar vs Arunachal Pradesh in Ranchi on Dec 24, the quickest by any batter to 150 in List-A cricket.
• 408 - India's margin of defeat in the Guwahati Test vs South Africa in Nov 2025, their biggest defeat in terms of runs.

—Stats: Rajesh Kumar