Nehal Wadhera Changes His Team, Now He Will Play For This Team Indian Domestic Cricket

Nehal Wadhera plays for PBKS in IPL 2026 | PC- AFP

In a surprising move, two prominent names in domestic scenes have left their state teams to join Himachal Pradesh.

Himachal Pradesh will begin its domestic season with the Ranji Trophy season, which will be contested in two phases. Between the two phases, the BCCI has decided to adjust the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy later this year.

Known as the stepping stone in Indian cricket, the BCCI has, in recent years, started to place more weight on performances in domestic tournaments, with the IPL extravaganzas no longer the sole entry to the senior team.

Nehal Wadhera leaves Punjab to join Himachal Pradesh

Punjab's middle-order batter, Nehal Wadhera, has switched his base to Himachal Pradesh ahead of the upcoming domestic season, which will start with the prestigious Ranji Trophy 2026/27, as reported by Cricinfo.

Although the first phase of the Ranji Trophy 2026/27 will begin later in October, the domestic season will kickstart in August with the Duleep Trophy 2026.

Meanwhile, Himachal Pradesh had an unforgettable previous Ranji season, finishing at the bottom of the points table in their group, with two losses and five drawn matches.

The Northern Indian state's poor form continued in the Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy as well, where they finished seventh out of eight teams in Group C. However, they had a decent time in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, winning three and losing four matches.

How has been Nehal Wadhera's domestic run so far?

After debuting at the domestic level in early 2023, the attacking Nehal Wadhera has been a regular part of the Punjab team. So far, he has played 17 First-Class matches, 16 List-A games and 15 T20 matches.

Wadhera has scored three centuries in his brief Ranji career, and two of them came in his maiden season, where he slammed a double hundred vs MP. Next season, he scored another ton, but had a below-par Ranji season in 2025/26. Moreover, his performances in the SMAT and VHT weren’t too great either.

That said, his rise in Punjab’s domestic cricket resulted in him earning an IPL contract from the Punjab Kings, for whom he has played 44 matches across three seasons.

Prashant Chopra returns back to Himachal

Apart from Nehal Wadhera, former Himachal Pradesh batter Prashant Chopra has also moved back to his home state.

The 33-year-old batter played last season for Uttarakhand, enduring a poor white-ball campaign and scoring just 85 runs in three Syed Mushtaq Ali games. He then scored 262 runs in the red-ball tournament, including a brilliant 82 against Bengal.

Overall, Chopra has been a great servant in the domestic circuit, notching up 5355 runs in 88 FC games, apart from his contributions in other formats. 6132 white-ball runs. Moreover, he has also hit 22 domestic centuries.

Prashant Chopra and Nehal Wadhera’s migration to Himachal Pradesh will only strengthen them. During the first phase of the Ranji season, they will take on Haryana, Mumbai, Chandigarh and Rajasthan.