Out of favour India Test batter relinquishes state team captaincy ahead of 2025-26 domestic season

Ajinkya Rahane gives up Mumbai captaincy

In a social media post on Thursday (August 21), Rahane announced that he has decided not to continue as Mumbai captain, suggesting "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," he wrote.

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

Rahane led Mumbai in the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy, where they lost to Vidarbha in the semi-final. The 37-year-old India batter didn't have the best season with the bat, scoring 467 runs from nine matches at 35.92 with just one hundred and one fifty. In the season before that, Rahane led Mumbai to the Ranji Trophy title, but had a worse season with the bat himself, managing just 214 runs at 17.83.

For the ongoing Buchi Babu tournament, Mumbai named 18-year-old Ayush Mhatre as the leader, while Rahane was not picked for the side. The India batter has not found a spot in the West Zone squad for the Duleep Trophy either. Now, with the relinquishing of Mumbai captaincy, it could be a sign of things to come for Rahane, who last represented India in the West Indies in July 2023.

Mumbai squad for Buchi Babu tournament: Ayush Mhatre (C), Musheer Khan, Divyansh Saxena, Sarfaraz Khan, Suved Parker (vice-captain), Pragnesh Kanpillewar, Harsh Aghav, Sairaj Patil, Aakash Parkar, Aakash Anand (WK), Hardik Tamore (WK), Shreyas Gurav, Yash Dicholkar, Himanshu Singh, Roystan Dias, Sylvester D’souza, Irfan Umair.

Ajinkya Rahane - Captaincy record for Mumbai in domestic cricket