Mumbai name Ayush Mhatre vice-captain, leave out Suryakumar for Ranji Trophy opener

Ayush Mhatre, a young vice-captain, has been selected by Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) to replace Suryakumar Yadav in their 16-man Ranji squad for the season opener. On October 11, the 42-time champions take on Chandigarh at the Wankhede.

According to MCA sources, the selectors want to train Mhatre to be a captain in the future, and the 19-year-old, who led India to the Under-19 World Cup championship, fits the plan. In the past two years, he has only played 13 first-class matches.

Indian opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, who has made himself available for the first game, is in the 16-man squad led by Siddhesh Lad. However, it has been learned that former India T20I captain Suryakumar was not taken into consideration despite making himself available for the match.

MCA sources have told that Suryakumar sent a message to the Mumbai selection committee, led by Rajesh Pawar. However, he was not selected for the squad by the committee. Suryakumar has not played competitive cricket since the Mumbai T20 League in June, when he was stripped of the India T20I captaincy despite leading the team to the T20 World Cup title in February and March.

“He is obviously a big-match player and a proven performer for Mumbai. We just want him to play a few red-ball games to get into a rhythm. Pawar stated, "We want Surya to have a few games under his belt because he hasn't played a red-ball match in the last 18 months, and then he can get into the team."

Sarfaraz Khan, who took Rishabh Pant's place in the Irani Cup match that just finished, is in the team but not in a leadership role. When asked about it, MCA sources declined to get into the matter.

In contrast, Suryansh Shedge has been selected to play for India A in place of Hardik Pandya in the three-match one-day series that begins on Tuesday in Puducherry. As a result, the pace-bowling all-rounder was not eligible to play in the Ranji opener.

Chief selector Pawar claims that former captain Shardul Thakur has fractured his right middle finger, making him another notable absence from the team. Pawar stated, "He may be unavailable for the first two matches."

Squad: Siddhesh Lad (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ayush Mhatre (vc), 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.