Star batter Rajat Patidar has been appointed as the all-format captain of Madhya Pradesh for the upcoming 2025–26 domestic season, which kicks off with the Ranji Trophy on October 15. The decision, taken by MP’s director of cricket Chandrakant Pandit, sees Patidar replacing Shubham Sharma as skipper.
The Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association decided to expand Patidar’s leadership role following his consistent domestic and IPL success. The 32-year-old had already led MP during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy last season, after holding discussions with Pandit about developing his captaincy credentials—something that paid off during his title-winning stint with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the 2025 IPL.
“𝑷𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒅𝒂𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒏 𝒅𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑰𝑷𝑳. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆,” 𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒐𝒓 𝑴𝑷𝑪𝑨 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒒𝒖𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈.
Patidar Successful Stints Across Formats and Tournaments
Patidar justified the trust placed in him by guiding Madhya Pradesh to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final, where they narrowly lost to Mumbai. He later went on to lead RCB to their first-ever IPL title and helped Central Zone clinch the Duleep Trophy for the first time since 2014–15.
In October, Patidar captained a strong Rest of India side at the Irani Cup, featuring top domestic stars such as Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Abhimanyu Easwaran. Despite the talent-rich lineup, the team suffered a defeat to Vidarbha, led by Akshay Wadkar.
Statistically, Patidar had a solid 2024–25 Ranji season, scoring 529 runs in 11 innings at an average of 48.09, including a century and two fifties — the second-highest tally for MP. He’s begun the new season in fine touch as well, smashing two hundreds and three fifties in seven innings, one of which came in the Duleep Trophy final, steering his side to a comfortable win over South Zone.
“𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑴𝒂𝒅𝒉𝒚𝒂 𝑷𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒉 𝒂𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒉𝒖𝒈𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒓. 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒆’𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔,” 𝑷𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒅𝒂𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕.
Madhya Pradesh’s Ranji Trophy campaign begins with a home clash against Punjab in Indore. The tournament will run in two phases — from October 15 to November 19, and January 22 to February 1, before the knockouts scheduled between February 6 and 28.
Also Read: Rishabh Pant to Play in Second Round as Ranji Trophy Action Resumes
