Ranji Trophy: Regulars return to boost Mumbai

Four of the five regulars, including captain Aditya Tare have returned to the camp for the crucial Group C tie against Tamil Nadu.

Aditya Tare had pulled out of the match against Madhya Pradesh for the birth of his first child.

Four of the five regulars, including captain Aditya Tare, who missed Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy season-opener in Indore last week, have returned to the camp for the crucial Group C tie against Tamil Nadu, to be played at the MCA Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy ground from Tuesday.

Tare had pulled out of the match against Madhya Pradesh for the birth of his first child. Having been blessed with a baby girl, the captain will take over the reins from his deputy Suryakumar Yadav, who handled an inexperienced bunch with aplomb in Indore . Batting mainstay Shreyas Iyer, young opener Prithvi Shaw and pace spearhead Dhawal Kulkarni had to miss the opening game since they were selected for the warm-up games against the touring New Zealanders.

The quartet’s return will thus help Mumbai to field a near-full strength side. Barring Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur, all the other Mumbai's top players will feature in the squad that will take on Abhinav Mukund's Tamil Nadu.

The inclusion of the regulars has meant that Eknath Kerkar, Shivam Malhotra and Shubham Ranjane, who had travelled to Indore, have been omitted from the squad.

The squad

Aditya Tare (c, wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Akhil Herwadkar, Prithvi Shaw, Jay Bista, Siddhesh Lad, Abhishek Nayar, Vijay Gohil, Akash Parkar, Royston Dias, Minad Manjrekar, Aditya Dhumal, Sufiyan Shaikh (wk).

Deshpande boost for U-23 team

Pace bowler Tushar Deshpande, one of the finds of the last season's Ranji campaign, has recovered from the ankle injury that had sidelined him from the first round of domestic games. The selection committee chaired by Ajit Agarkar has decided to assess Deshpande’s fitness by fielding him in Mumbai's U-23 side for the Col. C. K. Nayudu Trophy game against Kerala, to be played in Wayanad from October 26.

While naming a 13-member squad, the selection panel decided that one or two members of the Ranji reserves will join the U-23 side on the first day of the Ranji match.

The squad

Sairaj Patil (c), Vaidik Murkar, Hardik Tamore, Siddharth Akre, Ashay Sardesai, Prasad Pawar, Shams Mulani, Khizar Dafedar, Dhrumil Matkar, Sagar Jadhav, Rudra Dhandey, Tushar Deshpande, Salman Khan.