Ajinkya Rahane relinquishes Mumbai captaincy ahead of 2025-26 domestic season

New Delhi, Aug 21 (IANS) Ajinkya Rahane on Thursday announced his decision to step down as Mumbai captain ahead of the 2025-26 domestic season.

Rahane took to social media to announce his decision to quit the Mumbai captaincy, saying, "I believe it’s the right time to groom a new leader."

"Captaining and winning championships with the Mumbai team has been an absolute honour. With a new domestic season ahead, I believe it’s the right time to groom a new leader, and hence I’ve decided not to continue in the captaincy role," Rahane wrote on X.

"I remain fully committed to giving my best as a player and will continue my journey with @MumbaiCricAssoc to help us win more trophies. Looking forward to the season," he added.

Under Rahane’s captaincy, Mumbai won the Ranji Trophy in the 2023-24 season, ending a seven-year drought for the championship and made it to the semifinals of the Ranji Trophy last season, where they lost to Vidharbha by 90 runs. Under his leadership, Mumbai also won the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy last season, where he was the tournament's highest run-scorer and clinched the Irani Trophy in 2024-25.

Rahane is second in the list of all-time run-scorers for Mumbai in first-class with 5932 runs in 76 matches at an average of 52 between 2007 to 2025, only behind former India opener Wasim Jaffer (8,178 runs from 1997-2015). He has also scored 19 centuries for Mumbai in first-class cricket, second only to Jaffer's 29.

In his domestic career Rahane has so far played 201 first-class matches, 192 List A matches, and 284 T20 matches. During this time, he has scored 14,000 runs in 340 first-class innings at an average of 45.16, 6,853 runs in 187 List A innings at an average of 39.84, and 7,242 runs in 267 T20 innings at an average of 29.92.

--IANS

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