Madhya Pradesh’s all-format captain, Rajat Patidar, was announced ahead of the 2025–26 domestic season, which starts on October 15 with the Ranji Trophy. He took Shubham Sharma’s post after Chandrakant Pandit, the MP director of cricket, made the choice.
Following his recent triumphs, the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association was eager to increase Rajat Patidar duties.
After talking to Pandit about a similar leadership position for the 2025 Indian Premier League season with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), the 32-year-old captained the squad for the first time at the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy last season.
According to ESPNcricinfo, Rajat Patidar proved his worth by guiding Madhya Pradesh to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final, where they were defeated by Mumbai. Since then, he has led Central Zone to their first Duleep Trophy victory since the 2014–15 season and captained RCB to their first IPL championship.
At the Irani Cup earlier in October, Rajat Patidar captained a formidable Rest of India team that comprised well-known state captains Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Abhimanyu Easwaran. Nevertheless, the Ranji Trophy winners, Vidarbha, led by Akshay Wadkar, defeated the all-star lineup.
Rajat Patidar was the second-highest run scorer for his team in the 2024–25 season after scoring 529 runs at an average of 48.09 in 11 innings of Ranji, including one hundred and two half-centuries. With two hundreds and three half-centuries in seven innings, the Indore native has already begun the new season in excellent form. He scored one of his hundreds in the Duleep Trophy final, which helped Central Zone defeat South Zone by six wickets after taking a commanding first-innings lead.
Madhya Pradesh will play Punjab at home in Indore to start their Ranji Trophy season. The first part of the season will take place from October 15 to November 19, after which there will be a break for white-ball competitions. The second part of the season will take place from January 22 to February 1 of the following year. The dates of the knockouts are February 6–28.
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