Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) has gone with a young vice-captain in Ayush Mhatre and left out Suryakumar Yadav from their 16-man Ranji squad for the season opener. The 42-time champions take on Chandigarh at the Wankhede from October 11.
MCA sources say the selectors want to groom Mhatre as a future captain, and the 19-year-old, who led India to the Under-19 World Cup title, fits the plans. He has played only 13 first-class matches in two years.
The Siddhesh Lad-led 16-man squad has a place for Indian opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, who has made himself available for the first game, but it’s learnt that Suryakumar was not considered despite the former India T20I captain making himself available for the match.
MCA sources have told Cricbuzz that Suryakumar sent a message to the Mumbai selection committee, led by Rajesh Pawar. However, the committee did not consider him for the squad. Stripped of India T20I captaincy despite leading the team to the T20 World Cup title in February-March, Suryakumar has been out of competitive cricket since the Mumbai T20 League in June.
“He is obviously a big-match player and a proven performer for Mumbai. We just want him to get into rhythm by playing a few red-ball matches. Surya hasn’t played a red-ball match for the last 18 months, so we want him to have a few games under his belt and then he can get into the team,” Pawar said.
Sarfaraz Khan, who stood in for Rishabh Pant in the just-concluded Irani Cup match, finds a place in the squad but has not been given a leadership role. When asked about it, MCA sources declined to get into the matter.
Suryansh Shedge, meanwhile, has been drafted into the India A squad in place of Hardik Pandya for the three-match one-day series in Puducherry, starting on Tuesday. The pace-bowling all-rounder, therefore, could not be considered for the Ranji opener.
Another notable absentee from the squad was former captain Shardul Thakur who, according to chief selector Pawar, has fractured his right middle finger. “He may be unavailable for the first two matches,” Pawar said.
Squad: Siddhesh Lad (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ayush Mhatre (vice-captain), Divyansh Saxena, Musheer Khan, Sarfaraz Khan, Suved Parkar, Aakash Anand (wk), Hardik Tamore (wk), Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Atharva Ankolekar, Tushar Deshpande, Mohit Awasthi, Sylvester Dsouza, Onkar Tarmale.
