INDORE: In a surprising development, which is certainly a jolt to Mumbai ahead of the second leg of the Ranji Trophy season, veteran batsman and former India captain Ajinkya Rahane on Saturday informed the Mumbai Cricket Association that he will not participate in the rest of the red-ball season due to “personal reasons”.Mumbai will play the first of their two remaining Ranji Trophy group stage matches against Hyderabad in Hyderabad from January 22 to 25 before returning to their home ground to play their final league stage match against Delhi at the MCA-BKC ground from January 29 to February 1. Having won three of their five matches and not suffered outright defeats, Mumbai top Group D with 24 points under their belt.
Mumbai’s team for the Hyderabad match will be chosen on Saturday. Incidentally, Rahane inaugurated the MCA ‘Cricket Kit Fair’ at Wankhede Stadium on Saturday. “Yes, Rahane has informed us before today’s selection committee meeting that he will not participate in the remaining Ranji Trophy season due to personal reasons,” MCA secretary Unmesh Khanvilkar told TOI.The 37-year-old also missed the recently held Vijay Hazare Trophy, though he featured for Mumbai in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy, and finished as the team’s highest run-getter, scoring 391 runs in 10 matches @ 48.87, with three fifties and a core-high 95 not out against Odisha.Having given up captaincy at the start of the season, Rahane was in middling form in the Ranji Trophy, having made 209 runs in four matches (34.84), just a hundred (159 against Chhatisgarh). Indian all-rounder Shardul Thakur replaced Rahane in the Mumbai captaincy.Out of favor with the national selection committee for over two years now, Rahane played the last of his 85 Tests, in which he scored 5077 runs @ 38.46, with 12 hundreds and 26 fifties, for India in July 2023 against the West Indies in Port of Spain. In this period, he played a lot of domestic cricket for Mumbai in the hope of an Indian Test withdrawal, but failed to put up significant scores in the Ranji Trophy, and was even excluded from the West Zone side for the Duleep Trophy at the start of the season. He captained the IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders, but it is unclear if he will lead them in the upcoming season.Rahane, who loves to play red-ball cricket, had captained Mumbai to win the 2023-24 Ranji Trophy title, ending a seven-year drought, as well as the 2024-25 Iran Cup. On leaving the Mumbai captaincy, Rahane said, “Captaining and winning championships with the Mumbai team has been an absolute honour. With a new domestic season ahead, I feel it is the right time to groom a new leader and have therefore decided not to continue in the captaincy role,” Rahane posted on X. He added: “I remain fully committed to giving my best as a player and will continue my journey with @MumbaiCricAssoc to help us win more trophies. We are looking forward to the season.”