RCB's Jitesh Sharma moves from Vidarbha to Baroda ahead of 2025-26 domestic season

New Delhi [India], July 16 (ANI): Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma has moved from Vidarbha to Baroda ahead of the 2025-26 Indian domestic cricket season, according to ESPNcricinfo.
The 31-year-old cricketer, who did not feature in any Ranji Trophy matches during the 2024-25 season, was part of Vidarbha's white-ball squads, led by Indian batter Karun Nair.
With Jitesh's close relationship to Baroda captain Krunal Pandya, his Royal Challengers Bengaluru teammate during their first IPL championship earlier this year, it is believed that the transfer to Baroda has been in the works for some time.
The two shared a successful stint during RCB's title-winning IPL 2025 campaign, where he came out as a dependable finisher and even captained the side in Rajat Patidar's absence.
Since making his debut in the 2015-16 season, Jitesh has managed to feature in just 18 first-class games over the past ten seasons. He averages a modest 24.48 with four half-centuries. His most recent first-class game came nearly 18 months ago.
Earlier in the year, Jitesh led from the front with a blistering 85 not out off just 33 deliveries, peppered with eight boundaries and six towering sixes helped RCB to script history by pulling off the third-highest successful run chase in the Indian Premier League history, overhauling a daunting 228-run target against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) with eight balls to spare.
The unbeaten 107-run stand between captain Jitesh Sharma and opener Mayank Agarwal proved to be the defining partnership in RCB's six-wicket triumph, the highest-ever total chased at Lucknow.
However, Swapnil Singh, Jitesh's IPL teammate and RCB's sole RTM (right to match) at the mega auction, will move to Tripura for the domestic season 2025-26. Swapnil last played domestic cricket for Uttarakhand in the 2024-25 season, taking 18 wickets in five games of the Ranji Trophy, and he didn't appear in a single match for RCB in 2025. His stats in the shorter game were underwhelming.
Most recently, Swapnil was a member of the Chepauk Super Gillies in the 2025 Tamil Nadu Premier League. There, he regularly participated in club cricket events in Chennai. He took three wickets in eight games and scored 85 runs with the bat in eight contests. (ANI)