Prithvi Shaw, Jalaj Saxena included as Maharashtra name Ankeet Bawane captain for Ranji Trophy

Pune, Oct 9 (PTI) India batter Prithvi Shaw and domestic veteran Jalaj Saxena were included in a 16-member squad while Ankeet Bawane was named the full-time Maharashtra captain for the Ranji Trophy season, starting on October 15.

Maharashtra are placed in Group B along with last year’s runners-up team Kerala, Saurashtra, Chandigarh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Goa.

Maharashtra’s first game will be an away assignment against Kerala in Thiruvananthapuram from October 15-18.

The squad also features India batter Ruturaj Gaikwad who has captained his state team in the past, while the selectors opted to go with experience, picking Pradeep Dadhe over Rajvardhan Hangargekar.

Both Shaw and Saxena had joined the Maharashtra side ahead of this domestic season.

Shaw left his domestic side Mumbai after a troublesome period during which he also lost his spot in the red-ball side and joined Maharashtra looking to make a fresh start to his career.

Saxena, who had made his debut for Madhya Pradesh in 2005-06, had joined Kerala in 2016-17 season and played in the Ranji final last year which they lost to Vidarbha.

Maharashtra had finished fifth in Elite Group A points table in the last Ranji Trophy season (2024-25) with two wins, two draws and three defeats in seven matches.

The Squad: Ankeet Bawane (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prithvi Shaw, Arshin Kulkarni, Siddhesh Veer, Saurabh Nawale (wk), Mandar Bhandari (wk), Jalaj Saxena, Vicky Ostwal, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Mukesh Choudhary, Pradeep Dadhe, Hitesh Walunj, Siddharth Mhatre, Harshal Kate, Rajneesh Gurbani. PTI DDV PDS PDS