Rajat Patidar in whites (Source:@rishabh18v/X.com)
Rajat Patidar has been named as the all-format captain of Madhya Pradesh, and he has started his journey with a bang. In the first match of the 2025-26 edition of the Ranji Trophy, the cricketer smashed a double century and took his team to a very strong position against Punjab.
Rajat Patidar scored his double century at a great pace with a strike-rate of over 60 and made sure that his team took a big lead in the first innings. Punjab batted first and could score just 232 runs. In reply, Madhya Pradesh lost three wickets under 100, but captain Rajat Patidar formed a good partnership with Shubham Sharma and Venkatesh Iyer.
Rajat Patidar takes Madhya Pradesh to a strong total with double ton
The other batters could not carry on their good starts, but Rajat Patidar continued and scored his maiden double century. His previous best in first-class cricket was 196, and with this great start, he has once again announced himself as a captain who leads from the front.
Recently, the cricketer also scored a century as captain of Central Zone in the Duleep Trophy. Thus, he has been in great form and would be looking to continue that in the rest of the season to stake a claim for the Test recall.
Rajat Patidar's marathon knock, though, has been halted by rain, and currently Madhya Pradesh are eight down for 519. They have got a good lead of 287 runs and would now be pushing for an outright win. Mohammad Arshad Khan is also batting well with Rajat Patidar and is closing in on a century, and it would be interesting to see whether MP declare or continue to stretch the lead in Indore.
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