Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) teammate Rajat Patidar has been named the captain of the Madhya Pradesh cricket team for the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024. The Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association has entrusted Patidar with the leadership role for this prestigious domestic tournament.
Rajat Patidar to lead Madhya Pradesh in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024
The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy is a prestigious domestic T20 cricket tournament in India, named after the legendary cricketer Syed Mushtaq Ali. The inaugural edition was won by Tamil Nadu in 2006-07, while Punjab emerged as the champions in the previous edition (2023).
The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024 is set to commence on November 23rd, with Madhya Pradesh facing Mizoram in their opening match. As the newly appointed captain, Rajat Patidar will be tasked with leading a talented Madhya Pradesh team to their first-ever Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title.
Apart from Rajat Patidar, the Madhya Pradesh team also has stars like Venkatesh Iyer, Avesh Khan, Kumar Kartikeya, and Harpreet Singh.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) has retained three key players ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction: Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, and Yash Dayal. Kohli, the team's captain, was retained for a significant amount of INR 21 crore, while Patidar was retained for INR 11 crore. Yash Dayal, an uncapped player, was retained for INR 5 crore.
With these retentions, RCB has spent a total of INR 37 crore and has a remaining purse of INR 83 crore for the upcoming mega auction. The franchise will also have three Right-to-Match cards to retain players who are released by other teams.
RCB is likely to use their Right-to-Match (RTM) cards to retain key players, such as Mohammed Siraj. Given Siraj's long association with the franchise, it's highly probable that RCB will exercise their RTM to retain him. Other players who might be retained through RTM include Glenn Maxwell and Will Jacks.
The upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy promises to be a thrilling domestic T20 tournament, featuring several star players from the Indian Premier League (IPL). Some of the prominent IPL captains will be leading their respective state teams. Shreyas Iyer will lead Mumbai, Ruturaj Gaikwad will captain Maharashtra, Sanju Samson will lead Kerala, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Krunal Pandya, Tilak Varma, and Shahrukh Khan will lead Uttar Pradesh, Baroda, Hyderabad, and Tamil Nadu, respectively. Other notable captains include Jitesh Sharma for Vidarbha, Mahipal Lomror for Rajasthan, Mayank Agarwal for Karnataka, and Ayush Badoni for Delhi.
