Prior to the forthcoming 2025–2026 domestic season, Jitesh Sharma, the ace batsman and wicketkeeper for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, has formally moved from Vidarbha to Baroda. After having little opportunities with Vidarbha in recent years, the 31-year-old is searching for a fresh start in red-ball cricket.
According to reports, Jitesh Sharma close relationship with Baroda skipper Krunal Pandya, his teammate at RCB, has been a factor in the decision to relocate to Baroda for a while. The two had a fruitful time together during RCB’s IPL 2025 championship run, when he proved to be a reliable finisher and even led the team in Rajat Patidar’s absence.
Jitesh Sharma was a key member of Vidarbha’s white-ball teams the previous season, but he was left out of the 2024–25 Ranji Trophy. In red-ball cricket, Jitesh was frequently benched because Akshay Wadkar was playing and directing the team. It has been over eighteen months since his last first-class outing. The right-handed batsman has only played in 18 first-class games since making his debut in 2015–16, but in those 18 games, he has amassed 600 runs at an average of 24.48 and four half-centuries.
Jitesh Sharma was instrumental in RCB’s championship run.
After a mixed 2024–25 season in which they advanced to the SMAT semifinals and Vijay Hazare quarterfinals but lost in the Ranji Trophy league stage, Baroda will be hoping for a turnaround in luck. He made his India T20I debut at the Asian Games in October 2023, following a stellar season with the Punjab Kings, and has since participated in nine T20Is. He was one of RCB’s greatest players in the 2025 Indian Premier League, helping the team place in the top two with an undefeated 85 against the Lucknow Super Giants in a crucial game.
Notably, there are other players who are leaving Vidarbha besides Jitesh. Karun Nair, an Indian batsman who scored more than 800 runs in the Ranji Trophy and led the team in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, is scheduled to return to Karnataka for personal reasons. Swapnil Singh, another RCB player, is expected to relocate from Uttarakhand to Tripura in the interim. He participated in the TNPL 2025 and had a respectable domestic red-ball cricket season, despite not playing for RCB in the IPL 2025.
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