Known for his darting fielding and match-turning cameos, Jadeja redefined finishing in limited-overs cricket. His standout performance arrived in the 1996 World Cup against Pakistan, where his blistering 45 off 25 balls—laced with fours and sixes—set up a daunting 287/8. Pakistan faltered at 248/9, handing India a memorable triumph.

Jadeja’s ODI record speaks volumes: 196 matches, 5,359 runs at 37.47, with six tons and 30 fifties. Test cricket was tougher, yielding 576 runs in 15 games. His rare bowling stint peaked with a dream over in 1999, taking three wickets for three runs against England. He led India in 13 ODIs, notching 396 runs including a hundred.

The 2000 match-fixing scandal cast a shadow, imposing a five-year suspension. Undeterred, Jadeja challenged it in court, winning reinstatement in 2003. He pivoted to entertainment, trying his hand at films and shining in dance reality TV. Returning to cricket, he captained Delhi and took on coaching duties with Rajasthan in 2005, proving resilience defines his character.

Now a respected pundit, Jadeja’s narrative—from palace corridors to stadium cheers—continues to inspire, bridging cricket’s past with its vibrant present.

Rajat Patidar has been given a major responsibility.
The Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) has announced Rajat Patidar as the captain of their team for the Ranji Trophy 2025-26. He will replace Shubham Sharma in the upcoming Ranji Trophy 2025-26 season. Madhya Pradesh won their first Ranji title in 2022, and the team aims to replicate that success under Patidar’s captaincy. He is currently captaining the Rest of India in the Irani Cup, where they are playing against Ranji champions Vidarbha.

The 15-member Madhya Pradesh team includes players like Yash Dubey, Harsh Gawli, and Shubham Sharma to strengthen the batting. In the bowling department, Kuldeep Sen and Aryan Pandey, along with spinners Kumar Kartikeya and Saransh Jain, will provide balance to the team. Additionally, Himanshu Mantri, Harpreet Singh, Venkatesh Iyer, Sagar Solanki, Adheer Pratap, Arshad Khan, and Anubhav Agrawal are also included in the team. The Ranji Trophy 2025-26 will be played in two phases. The first phase will be from October 15 to November 19, while the second phase will be from January 22 to February 1. The knockout stage will be held from February 6 to February 28.

Madhya Pradesh team for Ranji Trophy 2025-26:
Rajat Patidar (captain), Yash Dubey, Harsh Gawli, Shubham Sharma, Himanshu Mantri, Harpreet Singh, Venkatesh Iyer, Sagar Solanki, Kumar Kartikeya, Saransh Jain, Adheer Pratap, Aryan Pandey, Arshad Khan, Anubhav Agrawal, and Kuldeep Sen.

The first tournament of the Indian domestic cricket season, the Duleep Trophy, saw both semi-final matches end in draws. Central Zone and North Zone had qualified for the semi-finals based on their first-innings lead in the quarter-final matches held in Bengaluru. In the semi-final, Central Zone faced West Zone, who had won the title in the previous season. However, Ajinkya Rahane, the captain of the team last season, was not part of the team this time. Shardul Thakur was leading the team in his place, while star players like Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shreyas Iyer were also in the team.

Despite this, Central Zone put the seemingly stronger West Zone under pressure with their strong batting and sharp bowling. After restricting West Zone to 438 runs in the first innings, Patidar’s Central Zone scored 600 runs in their first innings. No batsman from the team scored a century, but 6 batsmen scored half-centuries, with 5 of them scoring more than 75 runs. Captain Patidar himself scored 77 runs, while Shubham Sharma scored the highest with 96 runs.

It was this innings that sealed Central Zone’s place in the final as they took a lead of 162 runs in the first innings. In the second innings, West Zone’s batsmen couldn’t perform well, and they could only score 216 runs after losing 8 wickets by the time the match ended in a draw. The star of Central Zone’s success was off-spinner Saransh Jain, who took 3 wickets in the first innings and 5 in the second. He also scored an unbeaten 63 runs.

In the other semi-final, South Zone defeated North Zone to secure a place in the final. This match also ended in a draw on the final day, but South entered the final on the basis of a massive lead of 175 runs in the first innings. Opener Narayan Jagadeesan played the biggest role in taking South to the final, scoring 197 runs in the first innings. With his innings, South scored 536 runs in the first innings. Then, with the fast bowling of Gurjapneet Singh and Mohammed Nidhish, South bundled out North for 361 runs. In the second innings, South scored only 95 runs after losing 1 wicket when the match ended. Jagadeesan also scored a half-century this time.

Tilak Varma, a star batsman for Team India, will not be part of the Duleep Trophy. Mohammad Azharuddeen, a batsman from Kerala, has been appointed as the new captain of South Zone for the Duleep Trophy semifinals. Varma’s inclusion in the Indian team for the upcoming Asia Cup has led to his unavailability for the Duleep Trophy. This semifinal encounter will take place at the BCCI Center of Excellence, starting September 4th against North Zone.

Azharuddeen, formerly the vice-captain of South Zone, will now lead the team. N. Jagadeesan of Tamil Nadu has been assigned the vice-captaincy role. Furthermore, South Zone has suffered another blow as R. Sai Kishore, a left-arm spinner from Tamil Nadu, has been ruled out of the semifinals due to injury. Sai Kishore was also unable to play in the recent Buchi Babu Trophy because his hand injury hasn’t fully healed.

South Zone has brought in two new players to their team. Ankit Sharma, a left-arm spinner from Puducherry, and Sheikh Rasheed, a young batsman from Andhra Pradesh, have been promoted from the standby list to the main team. Rasheed was recently included in the Chennai Super Kings team for IPL 2025.

South Zone’s New Squad: Mohammad Azharuddeen (Captain), Tanmay Agarwal, Devdutt Padikkal, Mohit Kale, Salman Nizar, Narayan Jagadeesan, Tripura Vijay, Tanay Tyagarajan, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Nidhish MD, Ricky Bhui, Basil NP, Gurjapneet Singh, Snehal Kauthankar, Ankit Sharma, Sheikh Rasheed.

Standby Players: Mohit Redkar, R. Samaran, Aiden Apple Tom, Andre Siddharth.

In the second innings, Badoni played an outstanding knock, remaining unbeaten with 204 runs off 223 balls, including 13 boundaries and 3 sixes. Captain Ankit Kumar and Yash Dhul also contributed with centuries.