Rahane to lead Mumbai in Vijay Hazare

Hours after reports emerged of Ajinkya Rahane’s desires to play the Vijaya Hazare Trophy in order to make a case for himself for the Indian ODI side, the Mumbai Cricket Association appointed him the captain of the 15-member strong Mumbai side.

Hours after reports emerged of Ajinkya Rahane’s desires to play the Vijaya Hazare Trophy in order to make a case for himself for the Indian ODI side, the Mumbai Cricket Association appointed him the captain of the 15-member strong Mumbai side.

Mumbai, who are placed in Elite Group A, begin their campaign against Baroda in Alur, near Bengaluru, on September 19 in the 50-over tournament.
Attacking batsman Shreyas Iyer, who was ignored by the national selectors for the Asia Cup in the UAE, will be his deputy, said a release from the Mumbai Cricket Association.

Rahane, too, has not found a berth in the Asia Cup squad to be led by another Mumbai player Rohit Sharma.

It is believed that Rahane gave his assertion to the chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar to keep himself in the running for a World Cup spot, which is just eight months away. Rahane did make a comeback to the Indian ODI squad in South Africa earlier this year but was again shown the door for the England tour.

Coming back to the Mumbai squad, young opener Prithvi Shaw, who was recently picked in the Indian Test squad for the fourth and fifth Tests against England but did not get a game, is also part of the squad.

Mumbai are to be grouped with Baroda, Karnataka, Railways, Vidarbha, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Goa and Maharashtra in the league phase.

Squad: Ajinkya Rahane (Captain), Shreyas Iyer (Vice Captain), Prithvi Shaw, Jay Bista, Surya Kumar Yadav, Siddhesh Lad, Aditya Tare, Eknath Kerkar, Shivam Dube, Akash Parkar, Dhaval Kulkarni, Shams Mulani, Vijay Gohil, Tushar Deshpande, Royston Dias.