Shardul Thakur appointed Mumbai Ranji captain

Shardul Thakur has formally been appointed as the Mumbai captain for the forthcoming Ranji Trophy season, starting October 15.

Even before Ajinkya Rahane announced his decision to step down from Mumbai’s captaincy after leading Mumbai for the last two seasons, Thakur’s elevation was anticipated. The senior selection committee, chaired by Sanjay Patil, stamped the decision to elevate Thakur into captaincy during its meeting to finalise the probables’ list for the season.

Thakur, a three-times Ranji Trophy champion, led the West Zone during its semifinal loss in the Duleep Trophy earlier this month. He will be hoping to add another Ranji title with able guidance from Rahane, the senior statesman.

Sarfaraz Khan, recovering from a quadriceps injury he suffered during the Buchi Babu invitational tournament in Chennai last month, is expected to be available for Mumbai’s season-opener against Jammu & Kashmir.

While finalising the probables’ list, the selection committee decided to focus on the players who are likely to be available for the whole season. “Players on national duty will be included as per their availability,” mentioned the statement issued by the Mumbai Cricket Association secretary Abhay Hadap and joint secretary Deepak Patil.

The probables

Shardul Thakur (Capt.), Ayush Mhatre, Musheer Khan, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Akhil Herwadkar, Ajinkya Rahane, Sarfaraz Khan, Siddhesh Lad, Suved Parkar, Suryansh Shedge, Akash Parkar, Tushar Deshpande, Sylvester D’souza, Irfan Umair, Roystan Dias, Pratik Mishra, Akash Anand (wk), Hardik Tamore (wk), Prasad Pawar (wk), Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Himanshu Singh, Atharva Ankolekar, Ishan Mulchandani.

Ends