Rajat Patidar poses threat to Shubman Gill as he gets all-format captaincy

Rajat Patidar has been appointed captain of Madhya Pradesh for all formats ahead of the 2025-26 domestic season. Rajat Patidar will kick off his fresh journey with the Ranji Trophy on October 15. He replaced Shubham Sharma as Madhya Pradesh’s all-format captain.

The Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) is aiming to expand Patidar’s influence across the formats following his recent golden streak as the captain, as per ESPNCricinfo. The 32-year-old first got a taste of captaincy during last season’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

Rajat Patidar named Madhya Pradesh captain for all formats ahead of 2025-26 season

Rajat Patidar impressed everyone by leading Madhya Pradesh to the final, narrowly losing to Mumbai. Patidar’s leadership credentials were further boosted after he led the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to their maiden IPL title earlier this year and the Central Zone to the historic Duleep Trophy triumph.

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Last week, Patidar also led the Rest of India squad in the Irani Cup 2025 in Nagpur. However, the Rest of India lost the 2025 Irani Cup title to Vidarbha, the defending Ranji Trophy champions. The RCB captain’s batting performance (66 and 10) against Vidarbha wasn't enough to win another trophy.

Well, Patidar’s form with the bat has been outstanding. In the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy, the right-handed batter scored 529 runs in 11 innings at an average of 48.09 and strike rate of 77, including one century and two fifties. He now has 5,196 runs from 72 first-class matches at an average of over 44.

Rajat Patidar in red-hot form ahead of 2025-26 Ranji Trophy

The Madhya Pradesh batter has so far struck 15 centuries and 27 half-centuries in the format. This season, Rajat Patidar has already hit two centuries and three half-centuries in seven innings, including a match-winning hundred in the Duleep Trophy final.

Patidar has also played three Tests for India. Notably, Madhya Pradesh will open their Ranji Trophy campaign at home against Punjab in Indore.

The season will run in two phases: October 15 to November 19 for the first leg, followed by a break for white-ball tournaments, and resuming January 22 to February 1 for the second leg, with knockouts scheduled from February 6 to 28.

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Dilip Vengsarkar confused as Shreyas Iyer chooses White-Ball over Red-Ball cricket

Meanwhile, Shreyas Iyer’s recent appointment as India’s ODI vice-captain has raised eyebrows, especially with his commitment to white-ball cricket coming right after he took a six-month break from red-ball cricket in the middle of the India A vs Australia A series.

Former Indian captain and chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar admitted he found it hard to understand how a player could balance or choose between red-ball and white-ball formats.

Dilip Vengsarkar was quoted as saying by Mid-Day: “To be honest, it’s a dilemma for me, because he [Iyer] says that he is unfit for red-ball cricket but is fit for white-ball cricket.”