'Time to prepare a new leader...', Ajinkya Rahane leaves Mumbai team captaincy

Ajinkya Rahane Leaves Mumbai Captaincy: Ahead of the upcoming domestic season, experienced batsman Ajinkya Rahane has left the captaincy of Mumbai in red ball cricket. 37-year-old Rahane believes that now a new player should be groomed as captain. Rahane clarified that he is only leaving the captaincy, not retiring. Rahane will continue to play as a batsman for Mumbai in all three formats.

'Time to prepare a new leader'

Ajinkya Rahane wrote on X, 'It has been a great honor for me to captain the Mumbai team and win the championship. Before the new domestic season, I think now the right time has come to prepare a new leader. That's why I have decided to step down from captaincy. I will remain fully dedicated as a player and will try to win more titles with the Mumbai Cricket Association.'

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.

I remain fully committed to giving my best…

— Ajinkya Rahane (@ajinkyarahane88) August 21, 2025

Ajinkya Rahane leaves Mumbai team captaincy

Under the captaincy of Ajinkya Rahane, Mumbai won the Ranji Trophy in 2023-24 after 7 years, when it defeated Vidarbha in the title match. Apart from this, the Mumbai team also won the Irani Cup (2024-25) and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (2022-23) under the captaincy of Ajinkya Rahane.

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Ranji Trophy is going to start from 15 October. In this, Mumbai's first match will be against Jammu and Kashmir. Ajinkya Rahane has so far scored 14,000 runs in 201 first-class matches. Rahane captained the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, where he scored 390 runs in 13 matches. Now the question is also arising whether KKR will retain him as captain for IPL 2026 or not.

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Who will become the new captain of Mumbai team?

Mumbai has players like Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shardul Thakur and Sarfaraz Khan. Since Yashasvi Jaiswal is very busy with Team India, the selectors can make any one of Shardul, Iyer or Suryakumar the captain of the team in red ball cricket. Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar have not played Test cricket for a long time.