# Maharashtra cricket team

The Maharashtra cricket team is a state cricket team that represents the Maharashtra state in domestic cricket of India. It is governed by Maharashtra Cricket Association. It plays its home matches at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune.
Maharashtra have won Ranji Trophy twice and remained runners-up thrice, won Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy once and remained runners-up once. In Vijay Hazare trophy it has been winner in West zone in 1994–95 and were runners up in 2022/23 season.

## History

Maharashtra was one of the 15 teams that competed in the first Ranji Trophy tournament in 1934–35, when, captained by D. B. Deodhar, it lost its inaugural match narrowly to Bombay. It has competed ever since, winning twice and finishing runners-up three times. Maharashtra won two consecutive Ranji trophies in 1939-40 and 1940-41 defeating United Province and Madras cricket team in the final respectively. It remained runner-up 3 times, in 1970-71 season it lost against Bombay cricket team, in 1992-93 against Punjab and in 2013-14 season versus Karnataka in the final and remained runner up.
Maharashtra's player Bhausaheb Nimbalkar scored record 443 in an inning in 1948 Ranji trophy, the record still stands and is still the highest Ranji trophy and first class score by an Indian.
As of February 2021 Maharashtra had played 395 times in the Ranji Trophy, winning 98, losing 75, and drawing 222 times.
In 1994-95 Vijay Hazare Trophy this team was winner of West zone.
Historically Maharashtra cricket team has been played its home matches at Poona Gymkhana Ground, Nehru stadium in Pune. Since Maharashtra cricket association built its own International cricket stadium at Gahunje outside Pune, it plays its home matches at 'Maharashtra Cricket Association stadium' (also known as MCA stadium).
Maharashtra team won its first Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, a premier T20 domestic cricket tournament in 2009–10. It defeated Hyderabad cricket team in the final by 19 runs. In 2018-19 season it lost against Karnataka cricket team in the final.
In 2022/23 Vijay Hazare Trophy, Maharashtra team had their best run in history but lost the finals to Saurashtra, Ruturaj Gaikwad captaining the side for the first time was the leading run getter for the side, he hit a tremendous knock of 220 runs of 159 deliveries not out vs Uttar Pradesh in quarterfinals, hitting a record breaking 7 sixes in an over off Shiva Singh's bowling.

## Grounds
### MCA Stadium, Pune

Owner and operated by the Maharashtra Cricket Association, it is the main home ground of the team. It boasts an impressive outdoor cricket field encircled by elliptical-shaped bleachers supported on sturdy racking beams. These bleachers are organized into two tiers, an upper and lower level, collectively providing seating for up to 45,000 enthusiastic spectators. Established in 2012, This stadium has hosted many International cricket games including Cricket World Cup games and is also the secondary home-ground for the Chennai Super Kings in Indian Premier League.

### Nehru Stadium, Pune

Formerly known as Club of Maharashtra Ground, It was established in 1969 and has a capacity of 25,000 people, it was the main home-ground for the team during a period, in 2007 due to some disputes between state association and Pune Municipal Corporation regarding ticket allocation, led to an international match between India and Sri Lanka to be shifted to Kolkata, Following this the MCA decided a new stadium was needed and began the planning and construction for MCA Stadium. It also has hosted few of Cricket World Cup games.

### Hutatma Anant Kanhere Maidan, Nashik

Formerly known as the Golf Club Ground. The ground is named after Hutatma Anant Kanhere, who was a freedom-fighter from Nasik. This was home ground for Maharashtra cricket team since the dispute over the Nehru Stadium in Pune until the new stadium was constructed in Pune. This ground still hosts domestic games for Maharashtra team.

### Indira Gandhi Stadium, Solapur

The Indira Gandhi Stadium is located in Solapur, and has a capacity of 30,000 spectators, the venue is named after Indira Gandhi, the fourth prime minister of India. This stadium still hosts domestic games and is equipped with modern facilities aswell.

### Deccan Gymkhana Ground, Pune

Located in Deccan Gymkhana area of Pune, the Deccan Gymkhana and its grounds were founded in October 1906, This sports ground/club has hosted Davis Cup and had hosted the older (2009-12) Maharashtra premier league games.

## Honours

| Year | Final Result | Most Runs | Most Wickets |
| Ranji Trophy ||||
| 1939–40 | Champions | Vijay Hazare (619) | Vijay Hazare (20) |
| 1940–41 | Champions | Vijay Hazare (565) | Chandrasekhar Sarwate (24) |
| 1970–71 | Runners-up | Hemant Kanitkar (687) | Vithal Joshi (45) |
| 1992–93 | Runners-up | Santosh Jedhe (867) | Santosh Jedhe (37) |
| 2013–14 | Runners-up | Kedar Jadhav (1223) | Shrikant Mundhe (34) |
| Wills Trophy ||||
| 1986-87 | Runners-up | Shrikant Kalyani (176) | Sunil Gudge (9) |
| Vijay Hazare Trophy ||||
| 2022-23 | Runners-up | Ruturaj Gaikwad (660) | Rajvardhan Hangargekar (15) |
| Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy ||||
| 2009-10 | Champions | Rohit Motwani (147) | Ganesh Gaikwad (11) |
| 2018-19 | Runners-up | Naushad Shaikh (335) | Satyajeet Bachhav (20) |
* Source - ESPNcricinfo & The Association of Cricket and Historians

## Famous players

Players who have represented India :
| Player | Formats | Debut |
| Vijay Hazare | Test | 1946 |
| Ranga Sohoni | Test | 1946 |
| Madhusudan Rege | Test | 1949 |
| Chandu Borde | Test | 1952 |
| Vasant Ranjane | Test | 1958 |
| Chetan Chauhan | Test/ODI | 1969 |
| Hemant Kanitkar | Test | 1974 |
| Hrishikesh Kanitkar | Test/ODI | 1997 |
| Yajurvindra Singh | Test | 1997 |
| Iqbal Siddiqui | Test | 2001 |
| Abhijit Kale | ODI | 2003 |
| Munaf Patel | Test/ODI/T20I | 2006 |
| Kedar Jadhav | ODI/T20I | 2014 |
| Ruturaj Gaikwad | ODI/T20I | 2021 |
| Rahul Tripathi | T20I | 2023 |

### Other Notable Maharashtra cricketers

* D. B. Deodhar
* Santosh Jedhe
* Surendra Bhave
* Dnyaneshwar Agashe
* B. B. Nimbalkar
* Ashutosh Agashe
* Shantanu Sugwekar
* Milind Gunjal
* Harshad Khadiwale
* Ankit Bawne
* Nikhil Naik

## Current squad

Players with international caps are listed in bold.
| Name | Birth date | Batting style | Bowling style | Notes |
| Batsmen |||||
| Ankit Bawne | (1992-12-17) 17 December 1992 (age 32) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | Vice-captain |
| Ruturaj Gaikwad | (1997-01-31) 31 January 1997 (age 28) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | Captain Plays for Chennai Super Kings in IPL |
| Rahul Tripathi | (1991-03-02) 2 March 1991 (age 34) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | Plays for Chennai Super Kings in IPL |
| Sachin Dhas | (2005-02-03) 3 February 2005 (age 20) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | |
| Murtaza Trunkwala | (1996-01-20) 20 January 1996 (age 29) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | |
| Om Bhosale | (1999-11-23) 23 November 1999 (age 25) | Right-handed | Right-arm leg break | |
| Siddharth Mhatre | (2000-08-29) 29 August 2000 (age 24) | Left-handed | Right-arm off break | |
| All-rounders |||||
| Siddhesh Veer | (2001-02-21) 21 February 2001 (age 24) | Left-handed | Right-arm off break | |
| Azim Kazi | (1993-10-14) 14 October 1993 (age 31) | Left-handed | Slow left arm orthodox | |
| Arshin Kulkarni | (2005-02-15) 15 February 2005 (age 20) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | Plays for Lucknow Super Giants in IPL |
| Ramakrishna Ghosh | (1997-08-28) 28 August 1997 (age 27) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | Plays for Chennai Super Kings in IPL |
| Divyang Hinganekar | (1993-10-14) 14 October 1993 (age 31) | Right-handed | Left-arm medium | |
| Wicket-keepers |||||
| Nikhil Naik | (1994-11-09) 9 November 1994 (age 30) | Right-handed | | |
| Saurabh Nawale | (1999-12-27) 27 December 1999 (age 25) | Right-handed | | |
| Dhanraj Shinde | (1999-09-09) 9 September 1999 (age 25) | Right-handed | | |
| Spin Bowlers |||||
| Satyajeet Bachhav | (1992-11-28) 28 November 1992 (age 32) | Right-handed | Slow left arm orthodox | |
| Hitesh Walunj | (1993-04-03) 3 April 1993 (age 31) | Right-handed | Slow left arm orthodox | |
| Prashant Solanki | (2000-02-22) 22 February 2000 (age 25) | Right-handed | Right-arm leg break | |
| Vicky Ostwal | (2002-09-01) 1 September 2002 (age 22) | Right-handed | Slow left arm orthodox | |
| Pace Bowlers |||||
| Mukesh Choudhary | (1996-07-06) 6 July 1996 (age 28) | Left-handed | Left-arm medium | Plays for Chennai Super Kings in IPL |
| Rajneesh Gurbani | (1993-01-28) 28 January 1993 (age 32) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | |
| Pradeep Dadhe | (1994-09-13) 13 September 1994 (age 30) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | |
| Rajvardhan Hangargekar | (2002-11-10) 10 November 2002 (age 22) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | Plays for Lucknow Super Giants in IPL |
* Updated as on 30 January 2025, according to ESPNcricinfo

## Coaching staff

| Role | Staff |
| Coach | Sulakshan Kulkarni |
| Assistant Coach | Amit Patil |
| S&C Coach | Mahesh Patil |
| Physio | Sandip Gaikwad |
| Masseur | Neeraj Thorat |
| Video Analyst | Shyam Iyer |
| Team Manager | Mandar Dedge |
* Source - Maharashtra Cricket Association