Suryakumar to lead Mumbai in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy; Dube and Thakur in the squad
Suryakumar Yadav was last in action in the IPL • BCCI
After being stripped of the India T20I captaincy earlier this year, Suryakumar Yadav will now lead the Mumbai T20 side in the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT), the domestic T20s in the Indian calendar. The tournament will also see the return of Shardul Thakur, who had missed the first leg of the Ranji Trophy with a finger injury.
The other India players in the side are Sarfaraz Khan, Shivam Dube and Tushar Deshpande in a squad of 16 that didn't have any vice-captain named.
Mumbai have split the captaincy this season after Thakur led them across formats last time. After Siddhesh Lad was named captain for the Ranji Trophy, which Mumbai started with four consecutive wins, the T20 leadership has gone to Suryakumar, who didn't find a place in the Ranji Trophy side.
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"It is always a matter of immense pride to represent Mumbai," Suryakumar said in a release on Monday. "I am honoured to lead this talented group in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Mumbai has a rich cricketing legacy and a winning culture, and we will look to uphold those traditions. We have a good mix of experienced players and exciting young talent, and I am confident that the team will come together, play with intensity and give its best in every match. Our aim is to go all the way and bring the trophy home."
Suryakumar last played official cricket in the IPL, when he was still the India T20I captain after winning the T20 World Cup at home in March. As soon as the IPL ended, the selectors dropped him from the T20I side and named Shreyas Iyer the new captain. Suryakumar had scored 270 runs from 13 innings in the IPL when Mumbai Indians had finished ninth. He played the Mumbai T20 league after that and also featured in club cricket in Mumbai while the Ranji Trophy was on.
Thakur returns to action after last playing the Duleep Trophy in the second half of August. He was set to turn up in the Ranji Trophy but he sustained an injury on his right middle finger while training in the lead-up to the tournament and missed the four red-ball games.
Dube will slot into the Mumbai side after not getting a single game in the five-match T20I series in New Zealand, which India won 3-2. Mumbai will continue to be without Yashasvi Jaiswal, who is in New Zealand, and will also miss allrounders Suryansh Shedge and Tanush Kotian who were picked for the 50-over Rising Stars Asia Cup in Doha from November 19. Kotian was among the top-five wicket-takers in the first phase of the Ranji Trophy with 24 scalps at 15.50 and also scored two half-centuries in four innings to average 48.33 with the bat.
One new name in the squad is Maxwell Swaminathan, a 27-year-old spin-bowling allrounder. Swaminathan had played in the Mumbai T20 League for champions Maratha Royals, where he shared the dressing room with Lad and Deshpande.
The SMAT begins on November 14, and Mumbai start their campaign against Hyderabad in Kolkata that day. Mumbai are pooled in Group D where the other teams are Gujarat, Goa, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Uttarakhand.
Mumbai squad for Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy
Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Atharva Ankolekar, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), Shams Mulani, Divyaansh Saxena, Maxwell Swaminathan, Suved Parkar, Musheer Khan, Shardul Thakur, Sarfaraz Khan, Mohit Avasthi, Sairaj Patil, Sylvester D'Souza, Shivam Dube, Hardik Tamore
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