Rajat Patidar given medical green light to play domestic cricket after struggling for months with knee injury.
The BCCI’s Centre of Excellence has cleared Rajat Patidar to play after he recovered from a left-knee ailment. He will rejoin the Madhya Pradesh team in Kolkata on Friday, and starting on Sunday, November 30, he will be ready for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy third round of matches.
It has been four weeks since MP skipper Patidar last played competitive cricket. After playing for India A in the first unofficial Test against South Africa A on October 30, he missed the final two weeks of the Ranji Trophy because of ongoing knee soreness, which he initially encountered on October 15 during the MP’s first-round Ranji match against Punjab.
Patidar received the RTP certificate (return to play) from the CoE’s medical team after completing a 10-day rehabilitation program. He is now batting again.
Before he picked up the niggle, Patidar was in great form. In addition to hitting two centuries and two half-centuries during a championship run as Central Zone captain in the season-opening Duleep Trophy, he began the Ranji season with a double century against Punjab.
His first white-ball matches since the end of IPL 2025, when he guided Royal Challengers Bengaluru to their first title, will be SMAT 2025–26.
Since then, Patidar has taken Shubham Sharma’s place as his state team’s all-format captain.
In the previous SMAT season, MP finished second, and Patidar made a major contribution to their campaign. With 428 runs with a strike rate of 186.08 in nine innings, he was the second-highest run scorer. That season, Patidar’s 27 sixes were the most.