Ranji Trophy 2016/17: Mumbai Announce Squad For Semis, Suspense Over Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane Remains
Dec 28, 2016 at 3:03 PM
The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) announced their Ranji Trophy squad for the semi-finals against Tamil Nadu, on Wednesday, December 28. The selectors handed a maiden call to the youngster Prithvi Shaw, who played quite aggressively in the recently concluded U- 19 Asia Cup in Colombo. He scored 191 runs in the tournament, at a strike rate of 107.90 and helped India clinch the Asia Cup title.
“All selectors consulted with the coach and the captain and felt that we should reward Prithvi for his performances. Anyway, the final combination will be decided depending on the conditions in Rajkot,” Milind Rege, the chief selector, told The Hindu on Wednesday.
However, suspense still remains over likely inclusion of Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane as Milind Rege, the chief selector of Mumbai, informed both players haven’t conveyed anything about their availability. It can be understood that players themselves will have to inform the board about their availability and that’s why they haven’t been named in the original squad.
Rohit suffered a thigh strain in the fifth and final ODI against New Zealand and missed the Test series against England due to the same problem. He flew to London and underwent an operation to cure the injury whereas Ajinkya Rahane suffered a blow to his finger ahead of the fourth Test in Mumbai. Both players are expected to miss the ODI series against England as well.
Mumbai will once again be without Dhawal Kulkarni, who is suffering from a knee injury and will miss the rest of the season as well. Shardul Thakur will lead the Mumbai bowling attack once again.
Defending champions Mumbai will take on Tamil Nadu in the semi-final at Rajkot in quest to win the Ranji Trophy title for the 42nd time.
Mumbai’s Squad for Semi-final against Tamil Nadu – Aditya Tare (capt & wk), Praful Waghela, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Siddhesh Lad, Abhishek Nayar,, Shardul Thakur, Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Tushar Deshpande, Royston Dias, Sufiyan Shaikh (wk), Vijay Gohil, Akshay Girap, Eknath Kerkar, Prithvi Shaw.