Ajinkya Rahane, Prithwi Shaw in Mumbai Ranji squad for Baroda game
Mumbai: Test specialist Ajinkya Rahane and young opener Prithvi Shaw were on Tuesday named in the 15- member Mumbai trophy squad for their lung opener in the Ranji Trophy against Baroda.
The two made to the 15-member squad, which was picked by the Milind Rege-led ad-hoc selection panel on Monday itself, but the official announcement was made by the cricket body on Tuesday.
Mumbai, the 41-time domestic champions, play their first game of the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy season against Baroda in Vadodara from December 9.
The squad is being led by batsman Suryakumar Yadav, with experienced wicket-keeper Aditya Tare as his deputy.
Shreyas Iyer and all-rounder Shivam Dube have not been picked in the squad as they are in the national team.
Rahane, India's test specialist, will get good game practice as India now play tests only in New Zealand after two months.
The game would also be an opportunity for Shaw, who returned to competitive cricket after serving an eight-month doping ban in the Super League stage of Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy, to redeem himself.
The Mumbai squad otherwise looks more or less balanced.
Regulars Jay Bista, Shubham Ranjane, Shams Mulani, and pacers Shardul Thakur and Dhawal Kulkarni are part of the squad.
According to sources, Mumbai's crisis man Siddesh Lad will not be available for first game as he is set to get married this Friday.
Squad: Suryakumar Yadav (Captain), Aditya Tare (Vice Captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Prithvi Shaw, Jay Bista, Shubham Ranjane, Akash Parkar, Sarfaraz Khan, Shams Mulani, Vinayak Bhoir, Shashank Attarde, Shardul Thakur, Tushar Deshpande, Dhawal Kulkarni and Eknath Kerkar.