Ranji Trophy: Santosh Saxena appointed as Railways coach for 2025–26 season

Mumbai: Former Mumbai seamer Santosh Saxena has been named the coach of the Railways senior team for the 2025–26 domestic season, along with former Assam wicketkeeper-batsman Syed Zakaria Zuffri.In 40 first-class games for Mumbai and Railways between 1997–98 and 2009, Saxena picked up 94 wickets. He also took 30 wickets in 21 List A matches. This will be his second coaching stint with Railways. He was one of the three coaches appointed by Railways — along with Nikhil Doru and Kulamani Parida — for the 2022–23 domestic season. Doru and Yajuvendra Krishnatry were the coaches for Railways last season.

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Railways were placed in the Elite Group in the Ranji Trophy last season but failed to qualify for the knockouts in any of the three domestic tournaments.Saxena was the bowling and fielding coach of the Mumbai Under-25 team in the 2021–22 season, when they clinched the CK Nayudu Trophy. He held the same post with the Wasim Jaffer-coached Uttarakhand side in the 2020–21 season. The 49-year-old also served as the fast bowling coach at the Mumbai Cricket Association's Indoor Academy at BKC during the 2023–24 season, when Mumbai's various teams won seven tournaments, including the Ranji Trophy.

Recently, he was the bowling coach of the Pagaria Strikers, runners-up in the Vidarbha Premier League. Notably, Saxena's former Mumbai teammates Jaffer (cricket director) and Amit Pagnis (head coach) were also part of the support staff."I've always enjoyed coaching Mumbai teams. I had applied and was interviewed by the Mumbai Cricket Association recently for the position of head coach of the Mumbai Under-23 and Under-19 teams. However, after I didn’t hear anything from the MCA, I accepted the coaching contract with Railways. It's always an honour to coach Railways. I'll obviously miss coaching Mumbai," said Saxena, currently an office superintendent with Central Railways, to TOI on Monday.