The Sikkim cricket team is a
cricket
Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
team that represents the state of
Sikkim
Sikkim ( ; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Koshi Province of Nepal in the west, and West Bengal in the ...
in Indian domestic competitions. In July 2018, the
Board of Control for Cricket in India
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the principal national governing body of the sport of cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at the Cricket Centre in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. BCCI is the wealthiest governing body ...
(BCCI) named the team as one of the nine new sides that would compete in domestic tournaments for the 2018–19 season, including the
Ranji Trophy
The Ranji Trophy is a premier domestic first-class cricket championship played in India and organized annually by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The teams representing regional and state cricket associations participate. BCCI ...
and the
Vijay Hazare Trophy.
However, prior to the start of the tournament, the team did not have a ground to play
first-class cricket
First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...
on.
Unlike some of the other new teams, Sikkim decided to enter their first List A competition with a team made up entirely of home-grown players. Ahead of the 2018–19 season,
Sanjeev Sharma was appointed as the team's coach.
In September 2018, they lost their opening fixture of the
2018–19 Vijay Hazare Trophy, to
Manipur
Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...
, by 10 wickets. In the Round 8 fixture against
Bihar
Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...
, Sikkim were bowled out for 46 runs, with Bihar winning by 292 runs, the biggest margin of defeat by runs in Indian domestic cricket. In their first season in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, they finished in last place in the Plate Group, losing all eight matches.
Lee Yong Lepcha finished as the leading run-scorer, with 214 runs, and
Mandup Bhutia was the leading wicket-taker for the team, with five dismissals.
In November 2018, in their opening match of the
2018–19 Ranji Trophy
The 2018–19 Ranji Trophy was the 85th season of the Ranji Trophy, the premier first-class cricket tournament that took place in India between November 2018 and February 2019. Vidarbha were the defending champions. The final took place between ...
, they beat
Manipur
Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...
by an innings and 27 runs. In the sixth round of fixtures,
Milind Kumar became the first batsman to score 1,000 runs in this edition of the tournament. He did so in the match against
Mizoram
Mizoram is a states and union territories of India, state in northeastern India, with Aizawl as its Capital city, capital and largest city. It shares 722-kilometres (449 miles) of international borders with Bangladesh to the west, and Myanmar t ...
, in his ninth innings of the competition. They finished the 2018–19 tournament fifth in the table, with four wins from their eight matches.
In March 2019, Sikkim finished in last place in
Group C
Group C was a category of sports car racing introduced by the FIA in 1982 and continuing until 1993, with ''Group A'' for Touring car racing, touring cars and ''Group B'' for Grand tourer, GTs.
It was designed to replace both Group 5 (motorspor ...
of the
2018–19 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, with no wins from their six matches.
Milind Kumar was the leading run-scorer for the team in the tournament, with 159 runs, and
Bipul Sharma was the leading wicket-taker, with seven dismissals. However, he left the team ahead of the
2019–20 Ranji Trophy tournament.
Squad
''Updated as on 5 January 2025''
References
{{Ranji Trophy
Indian first-class cricket teams
Cricket in Sikkim
2018 establishments in Sikkim
Cricket clubs established in 2018