Indian speedster Dhawal Kulkarni has been appointed as the stand-in captain of Mumbai in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy. He will lead the side for the next two games as regular skipper Ajinkya Rahane, along with Prithvi Shaw and Shreyas Iyer, is scheduled to leave the campaign for commitments with the Board President's XI and the national team for the upcoming bilateral series against West Indies.
Kulkarni will captain the side against Punjab (September 28) and against Himachal(September 30).
Confirming the changes, Mumbai coach Vinayak Samant said, “has been bowling really well. He's a focused and disciplined player. He's a senior, experienced player, and I expect Aditya Tare and Suryakumar Yadav (both former captains) to help him out. We're playing well as a unit.”
Opener Akhil Herdwadkar will replace Rahane in the side while Shubham Ranjane will replace Iyer. However, no replacement has been announced for Shaw yet.
Mumbai are currently dominating the tournament with 3 massive victories against Baroda, Karnataka and Railways. Their fourth match against Vidarbha on Monday was abandoned due to heavy rain.
And after a 3-day break, when they resume their campaign against Punjab on Friday, they will miss the 3 main batsmen from the top-order. In that case, it will be a huge onus on Kulkarni who will be stepping into the skipper’s shoes for the first time in his career.
29-year-old Kulkarni has an excellent first-class career. He has 252 wickets from 82 First-class matches and 174 wickets from 102 List-A matches. he also has represented India in 12 ODIs and 2 T20Is with 19 and 3 wickets respectively.