To many people's surprise, Gujarat Titans did not play their full-time captain, Shubman Gill, against Rajasthan Royals in Ahmedabad.
This happened after 1463 days Gill represented GT. Notably, he is suffering from a muscle spasm. As a result, Rashid Khan got to lead the side. And Kumar Kushagra got his cap.
In 2024, his debut season, Kushagra represented Delhi Capitals and played four matches, scoring a total of three runs—two ducks against Mumbai Indians, 1 against Knight Riders and 2 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru
In 2025, Gujarat Titans signed him for INR 65 lakhs. But it took him an entire season to finally get his first match. Today, Kushagra is playing his fifth match of the IPL. The cap presentation was an emotional one indeed, with the 21-year-old trying his best to hold back his tears and the teammates trying to cheer him up. Finally, he got a chance.
When father brought the field to the backyard
The young boy from Bokaro, Jharkhand, was born to homemaker mother Pushpa Devi and District Commissioner father Shashikant Kushagra.
Shashikant never picked up the bat. But he was desperate for his son. Initially he bought a book, "The Art and Science of Cricket." Shashikant read the book himself multiple times and became the coach of his own son, teaching proper techniques.
The ultimate devotion was shown when Shashikant put up practice nets at the backyard. Kumar studied at the Loyola school in Jamshedpur. To avoid the time consumption of travelling from school and nets, Kumar's father put up the setup in their home.
Kushagra would wake up before dawn for one-hour practice sessions with his father before heading to school. Kushagra faced the first rejection while he was just six. His father visited a local academy to enroll Kumar, but the coaches rejected him, tagging him as "too young."
But senior Kumar became Ekalavya. He followed every instruction at the camp. And then he came back and taught his son everything, helping the latter practice those in his own nets.
The MS Dhoni affect
The home state of Jharkhand itself has an MS Shoni impact. And so does his career. Kushagra initially started as a batter. But then he started playing as a wicketkeeper and often toured with the domestic teams as a backup keeper.
The red-hot domestic season 2025-26
Kumar Kushagra's breakthrough came in March 2022 when he scored 266 runs in a Ranji Trophy match at just 17 years old, breaking a long-standing record held by Javed Miandad to become the youngest player to score 250+ in a first-class innings.
However, in 2025, he has a stellar season for Jharkhand. He was one of the key contributors behind Jharkhand winning their first Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He amassed 422 runs in 10 innings with an amazing average of 60.28 and a strike rate of almost 162.
He finished as the third-highest run scorer and had an unbeaten 86 off 42 balls leading Jharkhand to the highest-ever successful chase in SMAT history (236 runs) against Punjab. Even in the final, he scored 81 runs.
In the Ranji Trophy, he scored 572 runs at an average of 47.67, highlighted by a monumental 234 off 367 balls against Baroda in November 2025, followed by another impressive 102 against Uttar Pradesh in January 2026. He carried the momentum into the Vijay Hazare Trophy, where he amassed 368 runs in just 6 matches at a superb average of 73.60, with his standout knock being an unbeaten 143 off 137 balls against Kerala.
At this point, Gujarat Titans has 78 runs. While Sudharsan leading the charge, Kushagra's innings ended at 18 runs, after a quirky catch from Shimron Hetmyer at the boundary.