The Ranji Trophy 2025-26 kicks start from today, and Prithvi Shaw’s poor run continues. Prithvi Shaw, who changed his domestic side earlier before the tournament, was not able to turn up in his first match for Maharashtra. Prithvi Shaw, who scored a brilliant century in his Ranji Debut for Mumbai back in 2017, 8 years later, the former U-19 captain remained unable to open his score book and was trapped in front of the wickets by MD Nidheesh.
Ankit Bawne’s Maharashtra was not able to start its campaign on a good note. Batting first against Kerala, Maharashtra lost 4 wickets in just 5 runs. In 3.2 overs, Maharashtra was reduced to 4/5 after four of its top five batsmen recorded ducks. Captain Ankit Bawne, Siddhesh Veer, Arshin Kulkarni, and Prithvi Shaw were unable to open their accounts.
Gaikwad's gritty 91 steadies Maharashtra after horrible start
Despite a horrible start, CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad played a brilliant innings and scored 91 runs off 151 balls with the help of 11 boundaries. He formed a successful partnership of 122 runs with Jalaj Saxena, who contributed 49 runs to the team's total. Ruturaj's exceptional batting performance enabled the Maharashtra team to reach a score of 179 runs, losing 7 wickets after the end of day 1.
Maharashtra has been assigned to Group B, where they have to face Kerala (previous season's runners-up), Saurashtra, Chandigarh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, and Goa.
In the practice match against Mumbai, Shaw scored a trailblazing 181 runs, which gave a sign that the forgotten star will surely find his rhythm in the tournament, but Kerala bowlers had other plans. They managed to pull off a stellar performance with the ball. MD Nidheesh took 4 wickets alongside two wickets of N.Basil.
Ruturaj Gailkwad fell short of his century by just 9 runs. He got out on leg before on the delivery of Eden Apple.
The star-studded Kerala team also includes Indian T20I wicket-keeper Sanju Samson. The Indian wicket-keeper will be in action in the second innings. The Kerala bowlers will have to take the last three wickets of Maharashtra early. At the end of day 1, Maharashtra has 179 runs on the board and all-rounder Vickey Ostwal and Ramakrishna are in the crease.
