Mumbai include young Karsh Kothari in the Ranji Trophy squad

Mumbai has included the young left-arm spinner Karsh Kothari in the Ranji squad for the match against Andhra. This is a maiden call-up for the youngster after he impressed the selectors in U-23 CK Nayudu Trophy. The match is extremely important for Mumbai as it might effectively decide their fortunes in the tournament. However, Karsh would look to make the most of this opportunity and hope to make his debut right away.

The situation in Group C is tantalisingly poised as three teams are fighting it out for the second position. Andhra looks all set to qualify for the knockouts as they have 18 points after five matches. They would have to avoid the loss in their last league against Mumbai at home. On the other hand, Mumbai has to win to leapfrog Madhya Pradesh for the second place. Tamil Nadu is the other team in contention for the knockouts but they have to register outright victories to press their case.

I am nervous and excited

Karsh Kothari has expressed his delight after being picked in the Ranji Squad to replace another left-arm spinner Vijay Gohil who didn’t bowl well in the game against Baroda. He thanked Ramesh Powar who is a spin bowling coach of MCA indoor academy and Amit Pagnis, the coach of the U-23 team. “Powar sir improved my bowling and Pagnis sir backed me for the decider against Haryana. I was surprised. I performed well against Haryana, but I thought I’ve got to take more wickets to break in. As far as the Ranji Trophy match against Andhra is concerned, I am nervous and excited. I have to do well to cement my place in the team,” he told mid-day on Tuesday.

The chief selector of Mumbai, Ajit Agarkar was confident that Kothari would make good use of his height and extract bounce from the wicket. “He is a tall left-arm spinner and generates good bounce from the wicket. Of course, he is inexperienced but there are experienced players in the team to help him,” he said. The next round of Ranji Trophy will begin on November 17 and Andhra will host Mumbai at Ongole in Andhra Pradesh.

Updated squad: Dhawal Kulkarni, Abhishek Nayar, Aditya Tare (c & wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Siddhesh Lad, Shreyas Iyer, Karsh Kothari, Prithvi Shaw, Minad Manjrekar, Akash Parkar, Aditya Dhumal, Jay Bista, Akhil Herwadkar, Sufiyan Shaikh