This will be the first senior competitive match back after injuries for both the captain and vice-captain. Lad had dislocated his left shoulder in the Mumbai T20 League final in June and started batting in the nets only last month. Mhatre had injured his hamstring in the IPL earlier this year while playing for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and did his rehab at the Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru. Both of them played the pre-season Kanga League in Mumbai to prove their fitness ahead of the Ranji Trophy opening round.
The spin department will be led by Shams Mulani and Tanush Kotian and the pace department by Deshpande, Mohit Avasthi and Sylvester D’Souza. The middle order will again include the sibling duo of Sarfaraz and Musheer Khan. Sarfaraz recently played the Irani Cup whereas Musheer last featured in the Duleep Trophy quarter-final for West Zone.
The new Ranji Trophy season begins on October 11, where Mumbai will first take on Chandigarh at the Wankhede Stadium.
Mumbai squad for Ranji Trophy first round
Siddhesh Lad (capt), Shams Mulani, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tanush Kotian, Ayush Mhatre (vice-capt), Atharva Ankolekar, Divyaansh Saxena, Tushar Deshpande, Musheer Khan, Mohit Avasthi, Sarfaraz Khan, Sylvester D’Souza, Suved Parkar, Onkar Tarmale, Aakash Anand (wk), Hardik Tamore (wk)
