Rajat Patidar has been appointed captain of the Madhya Pradesh cricket team in all three formats ahead of the 2025–26 domestic season, which begins with the Ranji Trophy on 15 October. He replaces Shubham Sharma, with the decision made by MP’s Director of Cricket, Chandrakant Pandit.
Patidar was first trialled as captain during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy last season. Prior to that, he had spoken to Pandit about the possibility of taking on the captaincy at Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the IPL. He was subsequently appointed captain of MP, leading the team to the final, where they lost to the Shreyas Iyer-led Mumbai side.
Since then, the 32-year-old has performed well as captain. He led RCB to their maiden IPL title and also guided Central Zone to their first Duleep Trophy victory since the 2014–15 season. In the final, he scored a century that helped Central Zone secure a big first-innings lead, ultimately winning the match by six wickets.
Recently, Patidar missed out on the chance to win three trophies in a row, as Rest of India lost to Vidarbha by 93 runs in the Irani Cup match in Nagpur. Despite having big names like Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Abhimanyu Easwaran in the side, Patidar was unable to lead Rest of India to victory.
In the 2024–25 Ranji season, Patidar was the second-highest run-scorer for MP, amassing 529 runs in 11 innings at an average of 48.09. This season, he has already scored two centuries and three fifties in just seven innings.
The Rajat Patidar-led Madhya Pradesh team will begin their Ranji Trophy campaign with a home game against Punjab in Indore.
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