Suryakumar Yadav to lead Mumbai in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy; Arjun Tendulkar misses out

Suryakumar Yadav has been named as Mumbai’s captain for the upcoming edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, scheduled to get underway on January 10. Yadav was in excellent form in the four-team practice match and also has the experience of captaining Mumbai in domestic cricket. Back in November, he was also a part of the Mumbai Indians’ IPL-winning squad in the UAE.

Surya was on top of his game for the Rohit Sharma-led franchise and the fact that he didn’t make the cut for the Australia tour raised a lot of eyebrows. For the SMAT, Aditya Tare has been appointed as his deputy. Yashasvi Jaiswal scored 164 runs in the warm-up games and he has been included as well. The southpaw has come up the ranks in the last one and a half years or so.

In the Mumbai squad, Shreyas Iyer and Shardul Thakur haven’t gotten chances. Even as Iyer is recovering from a shoulder injury, Thakur is currently in Australia for the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy that India are trailing by 0-1.

In the meantime, Arjun Tendulkar, the son of the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, failed to make the Mumbai squad. Going by Mumbai Cricket Association’s release, the players will have to report at the iconic Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday, December 29.

Here’s the squad-

Suryakumar Yadav (Captain), Aditya Tare (Vice-Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Aakarshit Gomel, Sarfaraz Khan, Siddhesh Lad, Shivam Dube, Shubham Ranjane, Sujit Nayak, Sairaj Patil, Tushar Deshpande, Dhawal Kulkarni, Minad Manjrekar, Prathamesh Dake, Atharva Ankolekar, Shashank Attarde, Shams Mulani, Hardik Tamore, Akash Parkar, Sufiyan Shaikh

Changes in Mumbai’s circle

Mumbai are placed in Elite Group E and their first match is against Delhi on Monday, January 11. Their cricket has undergone quite a few changes ahead of the upcoming domestic season. They have roped in former batsman Amit Pagnis as their head coach. Mumbai haven’t lived up to their reputation over the last three years or so and they’ll be looking to make amends.

The Cricket Improvement Committee also appointed the selection panel, which is currently headed by former Indian cricketer Salil Ankola, who made his debut for India alongside Sachin Tendulkar.