Anukul Roy played many important innings in the entire tournament including the final.Image Credit source: Screenshot/Jiohotstar
The auction for the IPL 2026 season was held on 16 December in Abu Dhabi. During this period, many big and some new players were bought at high prices. Many of these players will come out to show their mettle on the field in the new season and will get opportunities again and again. But during this time, there will also be a player who has been a part of IPL for the last 4 consecutive years but has got only a few opportunities and has not got the respect that he deserves. But now this player made his team the champion of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with his amazing performance. This player is- Anukul Roy.
Two days after the IPL auction, the final of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025 was played at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune, thousands of kilometers away from Abu Dhabi. Haryana and Jharkhand Ishan Kishan was the hero of this match played between. Jharkhand’s captain played a big role in the team’s victory by scoring an explosive century and became the star of the match. Also collected all the discussions. But despite scoring the most runs in the tournament and winning the title, Ishaan did not receive the Player of the Tournament award.
Hit favorable throughout the tournament including the final
Jharkhand all-rounder Anukul Roy was elected the best player of the Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025 season. In the final, Anukul first played a stormy innings of 40 unbeaten runs in just 20 balls and took the team to a big score of 262 runs. Then, showing his magic in bowling, he dismissed both the batsmen who scored the most runs from Haryana. In this way, with his all-round performance in the final, Anukul helped the team become champion.
But Anukul’s performance was not limited only to the finals, rather he was seen repeating this feat again and again throughout the tournament, on the basis of which the team first reached the finals and then won the title. The 27-year-old left arm all-rounder scored 303 runs in 11 matches of this tournament at an average of 60 and strike rate of 160, which included 2 half-centuries. Also, with his spin bowling, he took 18 wickets in 11 matches with an average of 15 and economy of 7.41.
Few chances in IPL, will luck change now?
Anukul was chosen Player of the Tournament for his performance. This performance of Anukul was special because before the start of the next IPL season, he has once again reminded the coaching staff of his franchise how amazing he can prove to be. Anukul, who was a part of the Indian team that won the 2018 Under-19 World Cup along with Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma, made his IPL debut in 2019. Then he was part of Mumbai Indians.
Then in 2022, Kolkata Knight Riders bought him and since then he is with this franchise. But in his entire career, Anukul has got a chance in only 12 matches, in which he has scored 26 runs and taken 6 wickets. Obviously these numbers are not impressive but the opportunities he got were such that it was difficult to showcase his talent openly. Roy is still in KKR. In such a situation, it can now be expected that after the current performance, he will get ample opportunities in IPL 2026.