PUDUCHERRY — Over the past few seasons, Pondicherry cricket has quietly compiled a series of results that would have seemed unlikely just a few years ago. Victories over Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, Delhi in the Ranji Trophy, Tamil Nadu in the Vijay Merchant Trophy, and an innings victory over Jammu & Kashmir in Jammu during the 2025-26 Cooch Behar Trophy have underlined the rapid progress being made by one of Indian cricket’s fastest-improving associations.
The growth has been visible across First-Class, List A and age-group cricket, while the Pondicherry Premier League (PPL) is increasingly emerging as an important platform for identifying, nurturing and accelerating local talent. Combined with significant investment in infrastructure, regular hosting of BCCI tournaments and National Cricket Academy programmes, and a steadily improving player-development pathway, Pondicherry has begun producing cricketers capable of competing with some of the country’s most established cricketing centres.
The 2025-26 Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy campaign showcased the growing depth within Pondicherry cricket. The side recorded a memorable innings victory over Jammu & Kashmir in Jammu, while also securing draws against Gujarat and Vidarbha, demonstrating its ability to compete against some of India’s strongest age-group teams.
Several players played significant roles throughout the season. Against Jammu & Kashmir, Haaris Maraicar scored 90, while Kishan Yadav claimed a 10-wicket match haul, helping Pondicherry secure one of its most notable victories in recent years.
Across the tournament, Aahill Kachru emerged as Pondicherry’s leading run-scorer in the 2025-26 Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy with 388 runs. His season included a match-saving 159 against Gujarat, 78 against Vidarbha, and scores of 63 and 31 against Mumbai, where his aggregate of 94 runs was the highest by any batter in the match. As a first-year player in the age group, Aahill Kachru established himself among the competition’s leading batters and one of the standout performers from the emerging cricketing centres.
The campaign was built on contributions from several players. R. Jiviteshan, P. Shailesh Vaithyanathan, Prajan Kumar and others produced important performances throughout the season, while Surendra Bishnoi delivered one of the standout bowling efforts of the competition with a 10-wicket match haul against Rajasthan.
Players such as Satvik Deswal, Damodaren Rohit, Fabid Ahmed, Neyan Kangayan, Aman Khan, R. Jashwanth Shreeram and others have helped establish Pondicherry’s reputation as a territory capable of developing and nurturing talent. The progress has also begun receiving recognition at the national level. At the BCCI Naman Awards 2026, R. Jashwanth Shreeram and Raghavan Ramamoorthy received prestigious domestic cricket honours, further highlighting the growing quality emerging from the association’s development pathway. The Pondicherry Premier League has further strengthened that pathway, providing younger players exposure alongside experienced domestic, IPL and international-level professionals.
During the 2024-25 Vijay Merchant Trophy season, Pondicherry achieved two significant milestones in its Under-16 cricket history. Against Baroda, Pondicherry secured its first-ever draw in the competition against the western powerhouse, with Aahill Kachru scoring 172 to help his side earn a valuable result.
Later in the tournament, Pondicherry recorded its first-ever Vijay Merchant Trophy victory against Tamil Nadu, a strong side that would eventually qualify from the group stages. In that landmark win, P. Shailesh Vaithyanathan contributed a crucial half-century, while Aahill Kachru scored an unbeaten 59, helping guide Pondicherry to one of the most significant victories in the association’s age-group history.
Those performances established several Pondicherry players among the leading performers of the tournament. Aahill Kachru’s contributions earned him the Cricket Association of Pondicherry’s Emerging Player of the Year Award for the 2024-25 season.
Aahill Kachru subsequently earned selection to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) Under-16 programme in Mumbai. He was joined in the NCA pathway by P. Shailesh Vaithyanathan, Surendra Bishnoi and Pankaj Bhati, who also earned opportunities to attend National Cricket Academy programmes at centres across India, reflecting the growing strength and depth emerging from Pondicherry’s age-group cricket structure.
At the conclusion of the 2025-26 season, Aahill Kachru was recognised as Pondicherry’s Best Batter in the Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy campaign. Following a season in which he scored 388 runs, including 159 against Gujarat and 78 against Vidarbha, Aahill Kachru earned selection to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) Under-19 programme.
R. Jiviteshan, who finished among Pondicherry’s leading run-scorers during the 2025-26 Under-19 season, also progressed into the National Cricket Academy pathway, further reflecting the growing strength of Pondicherry’s age-group programme.
Importantly, the emergence of players such as Surendra Bishnoi, Kishan Yadav, Haaris Maraicar, R. Jiviteshan, P. Shailesh Vaithyanathan, Prajan Kumar, Aahill Kachru and others is not an isolated success story but part of a broader trend. The increasing number of Pondicherry players earning recognition through BCCI competitions, NCA programmes and professional opportunities reflects the steady progress being made by the association’s development pathway.
As preparations begin for future domestic seasons, Pondicherry’s recent results suggest that the territory is no longer simply participating in India’s domestic competitions. It is increasingly becoming a team capable of competing with — and occasionally defeating — some of the country’s most established cricketing states. For a territory that gained full BCCI membership only in recent years, that transformation has been remarkable.
