Rahane to lead Mumbai in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy

Senior batter Ajinkya Rahane was on Thursday named Mumbai captain for the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Rahane, who has been out of the India Test team this year, recovered from a hamstring injury and led West Zone to the Duleep Trophy title recently.

Rahane had missed the Ranji Trophy knockouts due to the injury he sustained during IPL 2022 as Mumbai reached the final under Prithvi Shaw's captaincy. On his return, Rahane scored an unbeaten 207 in the Duleep Trophy quarterfinal against North East Zone, but managed just 20 and 23 runs in the semifinal and final respectively.

"Ajinkya led West Zone superbly in the Duleep Trophy recently. Let's not forget that he's played 82 Tests and been an India captain. Prithvi and the other youngsters will learn a lot from him. You need a mature guy to handle them. He was away most of the time last season, but this time, he's available throughout the season, which is a boon for us," Mumbai chief selector Salil Ankola told Times of India on Thursday.

Despite his performances with the bat, Rahane received plaudits for sending teammate Yashasvi Jaiswal off the field for sledging South Zone batter T Ravi Teja during the Duleep Trophy final.

Mumbai also named allrounder Shardul Thakur in the squad which retained most of the talented young players including Jaiswal, Prithvi Shaw, Shivam Dube and Shams Mulani.

However, Thakur might not be available for the start of the tournament on October 11 as he is likely to picked for India's ODI series against South Africa from October 6-11.

Mumbai are placed in Elite Group A and will play Mizoram (October 11), Madhya Pradesh (October 12), Assam (October 14), Vidarbha (October 16) , Rajasthan (October 18), Railways (October 20) and Uttarakhand (October 22). Last season under Rahane's captaincy, Mumbai failed to clear the group stages after losing to Karnataka and Chhattisgarh.

Mumbai Squad: Ajinkya Rahane (Captain), Yashaswi Jaiswal, Prithvi Shaw, Sarfaraz Khan, Shardul Thakur, Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Hardik Tamore (WK), Prashant Solanki, Dhawal Kulkarni, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Aman Khan, Sairaj Patil, Mohit Awasthi.