The former captain of the Mumbai side, Ajinkya Rahane, played a huge role in their triumph by top-scoring in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024 with the help of 469 runs in just eight innings at a strike rate of 164.56 shouldering on five half-centuries as an opening batter, has asked for a break for ‘personal reasons’.
Shreyas Iyer was the second-highest run-getter of the SMAT for Mumbai with 345 runs in eight innings at an average of 49.28 with a strike rate of 188.52, thanks to one century and half-century at the best score of an unbeaten 130 runs. He will keep on leading the side in the 50-over domestic tournament.
But the biggest news of the squad is the selectors dropping their veteran and one of the successful openers of the side, Prithvi Shaw, for the first three rounds of the event, which begins on December 21. The announcement came on Tuesday, two days after Mumbai crashed Madhya Pradesh in the final of the 20-over domestic tournament at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
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Under the captaincy of Iyer, the other experienced members of the side, Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, and Shardul Thakur, will keep on featuring in a full-strength 17-member squad. The T20I captain of India has smashed 3627 runs in List-A games in 126 innings at an average of 33.58 and a strike rate of over 100 with the help of three centuries and 21 half-centuries at the best score of unbeaten 134 runs.
Mumbai drops Prithvi Shaw; Ayush Mhatre returns to the squad
It hasn’t been a long career in the format for Dube, who has played 57 List-A games for Mumbai to collect 1009 runs at an average of 34.79 and a strike rate of around 108, thanks to one century and a couple of half-centuries.
However, the exclusion of Shaw has come at a time when questions had been raised about his form and fitness. He failed to celebrate a single half-century in nine innings in the SMAT trophy with 197 runs, coming at the highest score of 49 against Vidarbha in the quarter-final. He expressed his surprise at the omission by posting his stats in the form of the game in his Instagram story.
“Tell me, god, what more do I have to see, if 65 innings, 3399 runs at an average of 55.7 with a strike rate of 126, I’m not good enough, but I will keep my faith in you, and hopefully people believe in me still, cause I will come back for sure. Om Sai Ram.” He penned down.
The spotlight has been on the right-handed Mumbi batter from the time he was dropped from their Ranji Trophy squad in October due to fitness and disciplinary issues. He has, however, earned so much support from the former head coach of India, Greg Chappell, or the former England batter, Kevin Pietersen. He wasn’t even picked by any side in the IPL auction for the very first time.
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“He needs to get his work ethic right, and if he does that, the sky is the limit for him. We can’t babysit anyone, right? Every professional who is playing at this level needs to know what they should be doing. And he has also done it in the past; it’s not that he hasn’t.” Iyer addressed in the recent presser that Ayush Mhatre, who missed the domestic T20 competition for being part of India’s U-19 Asia Cup squad, returns to the mix.
Mumbai Squad For Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25
Shreyas Iyer, Ayush Mhatre, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Jay Bista, Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Suryansh Sedge, Siddhesh Lad, Hardik Tamore, Prasad Pawar, Atharva Ankolekar, Tanush Kotian, Shardul Thakur, Royston Dias, Junaid Khan, Harsh Tanna, Vinayak Bhoir.