A Meghalaya High Court ruling declared the original squad's selection invalid, forcing an entirely new eleven to take the field against Nagaland in the Plate League.
Meghalaya's Ranji Trophy Plate League squad was entirely replaced ahead of their fourth-round fixture against Nagaland in Shillong after a Meghalaya High Court ruling declared the original selection invalid.
On the day the Nagaland match began, the original squad arrived at the ground in Shillong despite being told the previous day they would not be permitted to play. Match referee Arindam Sarkar met them at the venue and confirmed they had to vacate the ground because the BCCI had registered an entirely new squad. The new eleven, captained by former Punjab opener Jiwanjot Singh, replaced every member of the side that had featured in the earlier rounds of the Plate League.
Three guest players brought into the new squad were Jiwanjot Singh, Srinivas Sharath and Akshay Karnewar. All three had played first-class cricket in the previous season. The guest players were flown to Shillong over the weekend and had not met any of their new team-mates before arriving. Of the remaining members of the new squad, only Akash Choudhary had featured in a red-ball match this season, having appeared in the Duleep Trophy.
What happened to the original squad on match day?
The original squad, led by Kishan Lyngdoh, had been unbeaten in the Plate League heading into the Nagaland fixture. They had beaten Manipur by 3 runs in the second round and secured first-innings leads against both Sikkim and Mizoram. The players had trained right through to the eve of the match, unaware that their status was about to change overnight.
"We even practised right until match eve. Our captain [Kishan Lyngdoh] attended the pre-match meeting and we were assured ours was the only squad from Meghalaya that would take the field. But everything changed later at night when our coach. Nitesh Sharma was informed by the match referee that the BCCI would be registering a new squad to play the match," an anonymous member of the original squad told Cricinfo.
"Despite the confusion, we turned up at the ground on match day. All our kits were ready in the dressing room, but we were asked to vacate because we were the illegal team," he added.
Heavy police personnel were deployed at the ground on the first day of the match in anticipation of possible protests from the axed players. Some of the removed players were assured by their faction that they would be allowed to appear in trials ahead of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, which was set to begin later in the month.
The Meghalaya High Court ruled in favour of MCA president James Sangma and upholding the suspension of secretary Rayonald Kharkamni and declaring all resolutions and team selections made by the rival Apex Council faction as invalid. Kharkamni was suspended following complaints that he had failed to act on sexual-harassment complaints from players of the state's Under-23 women's team earlier this year.
Kharkamni had challenged the decision in court but failed to overturn the verdict. On the day - October 2 - the Meghalaya vs Nagaland match in the latest round in Shillong started, the old squad turned up at the ground despite being informed the day before that they would not be allowed to take the field.
How did the new squad prepare and perform against Nagaland?
The new squad had no formal training sessions before the match. When the players got together, they managed only light fielding drills and catching practice until the toss. Despite those circumstances, the new eleven posted 254 in their first innings in response to Nagaland being dismissed for 144. The axed players' uncertainty extended well beyond the Nagaland fixture.
"We've received no communication from the BCCI explaining the status or what would happen next. We don't know what will happen in the remaining Ranji fixtures, or the rest of the domestic season," a member of the original group said.
The MCA had also previously named a squad for the match against Arunachal Pradesh, and Khairul Majumdar was among those connected to the association's administrative proceedings during this period. Prior to the Nagaland game, Meghalaya had also faced Arunachal Pradesh in the Plate League.
Meghalaya full squad for Ranji Trophy Plate League 2026-27 (vs Nagaland, November 2-5)
Jiwanjot Singh (c), Srinivas Sharath (wk), Raj Biswa, Bamanbha Shangpliang, Josiah Momin, Akshay Karnewar, Swarajeet Das, Dippu Sangma, Akash Choudhary, Manish Sharma, Nafees Siddique