Mumbai Captain Lad on SKY's Exclusion: Players Preparing Well Will Be in Conversation

Mumbai: Mumbai captain Siddhesh Lad on Thursday said he respects the decision of the selectors to exclude Suryakumar Yadav from their Ranji Trophy season opener against Chandigarh, while adding that players who have prepared well will always be a part of the conversation.

The 36-year-old Suryakumar had skipped training with the Mumbai team in their lead-up to the Ranji Trophy season and had not even answered the selectors' call about 10 days before selection.

Suryakumar had made himself available closer to the selection meeting, but the Rajesh Pawar-led panel did not pick the former India T20I skipper on the grounds of lack of red-ball practice.

"Surya has been a fantastic player for Mumbai cricket. He has done a lot for Mumbai cricket over the years and also for the Indian team, he is a World Cup winning captain. In our group, there is a tremendous respect for Surya," Lad told the media during Mumbai's pre-season press conference here.

"But whatever the decisions are being taken by the management and the selectors, whatever they feel is right at this moment, as a captain, I want to respect it."

"I am sure whoever is in the contention and preparing well for the season, they will always be in the conversation. But I don't want to go beyond the selectors. It's their job, and my job is to work with the 15-member squad which I have," Lad added.

Lad was named Mumbai skipper ahead of the Ranji Trophy season and Ayush Mhatre, the 19-year-old opening batter, was named his deputy.

Mhatre said he would look to draw from his experience of playing with MS Dhoni at Chennai Super Kings.

"He always tells me that you should be calm on the field and some decisions that we take in the aggressive mode, it is not the right decision to take. We will be in that aggressive mode only for five minutes," he said.

"So stay calm in the field and take decisions in the calm mode, it will be helpful for you. It helped me in the U-19 World Cup also, so I just try to be calm on the field," Mhatre said.

Mhatre, who led India U-19 to a sixth World Cup win earlier this year, has spent about three months at the Centre of Excellence to recover from a hamstring injury.

Lad said Mumbai's rich history of having won the Ranji Trophy 42 times in the past would put pressure on his side, but they have worked hard to handle all challenges.

"I feel because of the rich history what Mumbai has, we are 42-time champions and the legacy what we have, plus the players who have represented Mumbai," he said.

"So I feel the pressure will always be there when you are representing Mumbai. But as a unit, we want to embrace it and not run away from it because we know what history we have, we know what culture we have."

With Shardul Thakur sidelined for about a month after copping a blow to his hand off a Mhatre stroke in the nets, Lad said Mumbai will miss their star all-rounder.

"A player like Shardul gives us the right balance in the team. We are going to miss Shardul in the first game for sure. But also, we are trying to see how fast he can recover and get back to the playing level," he said.

Underlining the importance of clarity in communication, Lad said it is crucial for Mumbai to learn from their mistakes, especially from the last season.

"We worked a lot on our fitness right from the off-season camp. The fitness markers have definitely gone up and we have a standard now of fitness," he said.

"Everyone is in good shape. As you mentioned, we worked a lot on our fielding as well because there were some opportunities which we could have grabbed. It can happen again, but our job is to prepare well and, as I said, have clarity. Our players should have clarity and also the security they need," he added.