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The Maharashtra Cricket Association has announced Ruturaj Gaikwad as the captain for the 2024–25 Ranji Trophy season. Ruturaj will replace Kedhar Jadhav, who announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on June 3, 2024.
Maharashtra had a disappointing 2023–24 Ranji Trophy season, where they only managed to win one match from seven games. They finished seventh in Elite Group A, having lost three games and drawn three.
The 2024–25 Ranji Trophy season will kick off on October 11, 2024, while the final game will start on February 26, 2025. Maharashtra will square off against Jammu & Kashmir in their opening game.
On Thursday, July 25, the Maharashtra Cricket Association announced a probable 28-member squad, with Ruturaj as the captain and Sulakshan Kulkarni as the head coach.
Maharashtra’s probable squad for Ranji Trophy 2024-25: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Saurabh Navale, Ankeet Bawane, Mandar Bhandari, Nikhil Naik, Hitesh Walunj, Siddhesh Veer, Vicky Ostwal, Sachin Dhas, Satyajeet Bachhav, Harshal Kate, Taranjitsingh Dhillon, Yash Kshirsagar, Prashant Solanki, Arshin Kulkarni, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Rahul Tripathi, Ramkrishna Ghosh, Digvijay Patil, Mukesh Choudhary, Azim Kazi, Pradeep Dadhe, Siddharth Mhatre, Manoj Ingale, Mehul Patel, Rajneesh Gurbani, Murtaza Trunkwala, Vaibhav Gosavi.
For 2024–25, Maharashtra has been placed in Elite Group A alongside Meghalaya, Tripura, Baroda, Odisha, Mumbai, Jammu & Kashmir, and Services.
Meanwhile, Ruturaj also replaced Mahendra Singh Dhoni as captain for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the IPL 2024. CSK couldn’t qualify for the playoffs and finished fifth in the points table with 14 points.
Ruturaj Gaikwad was last seen in action against Zimbabwe
Ruturaj, who led India to the 2023 Asian Games gold, was last seen in the five-match T20I series against Zimbabwe in July 2024. The right-handed batter scored 133 runs in three innings and remained the fourth-highest run-getter in the series, which the Men in Blue won 4-1.
The Indian batter has scored 633 runs in 23 T20Is and is currently No. 8 on the ICC Men’s T20I Ranking list. However, Ruturaj was not selected for the three-game T20I series against Sri Lanka, scheduled to start on Saturday, July 27.
India’s squad for three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Ꮪhubman Gill (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, and Mohammed Siraj.
